Wellman Europe operations acquired

By Henry Leineweber, Resource Recycling

Thai petrochemical giant Indorama Ventures has agreed to a deal with Aurelius AG to purchase subsidiary Wellman International's PET recycling business.

The deal is expected to be completed later this year with Indorama paying 42 million Euros ($56.5 million USD). Wellman is the largest PET recycling firm in Europe, with an annual output of over 168,000 tons, and operates recycling plants in Spijk, the Netherlands and Verdun, France. It also operates a polyester fiber recycling facility at its Mullagh, Ireland headquarters.

Indorama is the third largest petrochemical firm in Southeast Asia, valued at $5.3 billion USD, and has recently embarked on a merger-and-acquisition campaign to become one of the top 20 petrochemical firms in the world. The company's goal is to double its annual income to over $14 billion by 2017.

Indorama is currently the world's largest integrated polyester company and has ranked among the top five PET producers since 2008. The Wellman acquisition is expected to help the company meet its expansion objectives.

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