Taiwanese polyester and textile maker Far Eastern New Century Corp (FENC) plans to spend $375 million to acquire a US-based polyester plant through a joint venture between its wholly-owned subsidiary Far Eastern Investment (Holding) Ltd , Thailand-based Indorama Ventures Holdings LP and Mexico-listed Alpek SAB de CV to broaden customer base, according to the firm.
The factory to be acquired is a under-construction polyester plant owned by M&G USA Corp in Texas near the Gulf of Mexico, a crucial site that offers cheaper raw materials for global petrochemical companies, according to a report in a Taiwanese newspaper.
The joint venture, Corpus Christi Polymers LLC, would be FENC’s largest investment in the US and would help expand its Latin American customer base.
The plant will have a capacity of producing 1.3 million tonnes of purified terephthalic acid and 1.1 million tonnes of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), according to the report.
M&G filed for bankruptcy protection in November last year. FENC had last month announced its plan to acquire another plant owned by M&G in West Virginia.