For an undisclosed amount, Thai PET producer Indorama Ventures (IVL, Bangkok; www.indoramaventures.com) has agreed to buy Teijin (Tokyo / Japan; www.teijin.com) and DowDuPont's (Midland, Michigan / USA; www.dow.com) joint venture for polyester (BOPET and PEN) films. Included in the sale are manufacturing facilities at eight sites (in the US, the UK, Luxembourg and China), an R&D centre in the UK, sales and service activities, rights to over 700 patents as well as the "Melinex" and "Mylar" brands. The transaction is to be carried out by the beginning of 2018, after obtaining approval from the respective antitrust authorities.

DuPont Teijin Films has around 2,400 employees and is one of the leaders in BOPET and PEN films, especially for medical, photovoltaic, packaging and E&E applications. The group's total capacity is 277,000 t/y.

In 2016, Teijin took over ownership of the Japanese and Indonesian PET films joint ventures it had with DuPont, which were first set up in 2000 (see Plasteurope.com of 23.08.2016). With Indorama's acquisition, both partners are now separating from the remainder.

For Indorama, the takeover will be a forward integration for polyester films applications, which complements its backward integration for PET production – its PTA plant expansion in Rotterdam was completed in the summer of 2017 (see Plasteurope.com of 28.07.2017). The company will focus on the use of the coating material naphthalene dicarboxylate (NDC) for high-performance films, which are used to make products such as LCD flat screens and ultra-thin data storage tape. Indorama has been the only commercial NDC producer worldwide since its takeover of BP's (London / UK; www.bp.com) PTA complex in Decatur, Alabama / USA (see Plasteurope.com of 05.04.2016).

e-Service:
Indorama's presentation about its acquisition as a PDF file.