Indorama Signs Exclusivity to Acquire Assets in Europe, Consolidating Global PET Vision

Bangkok, Thailand, Rotterdam, The Netherlands and Workington,
England (ots/PRNewswire) - Indorama Holdings, Thailand (IRH)
announced today that, pending the signing of an agreement, its Board
of Directors and the Board of Directors of Indorama Polymers,
Thailand (IRP) have approved the acquisition of Eastman Chemical
Company's European PTA and PET Resin assets. Eastman is a leading PET
producer in Europe with an integrated (PTA and PET resin)
manufacturing capacity in Rotterdam, Holland and a PET Resin
manufacturing capacity in Workington, UK. The combined capacity of
the two locations is about 340,000 tpa of PTA and 350,000 tpa of PET
resin. IRH and IRP approved the acquisition for the PTA and the PET
assets respectively as this activity is considered strategic and are
complementary to their business.

This exclusivity is an important step towards the acquisition of
the European assets of Eastman. This acquisition, when consummated,
would be the third international acquisition in the polyester sector
by Indorama after the successful takeover of Siam Polyester, Thailand
in 1998 and StarPet Inc., USA in 2003. Post this acquisition, the
Indorama Group would consolidate its position further amongst the
World's largest polyester manufacturers with 2.0 million tons
capacity, a 20% increase from its the current capacity and
enhancement in revenue by around USD One Billion.

Commenting on this development Aloke Lohia, Chairman, Indorama
Holdings, Thailand said,"Indorama, is confident that this phase of
consolidation in the European PET industry is the way to bring back
returns in this otherwise lackluster market. This action reiterates
our strong commitment to the growth of PET and our confidence in the
European business model that started last year with the startup of
our Greenfield investment in Europe's largest PET plant in Lithuania.
Eastman's plants would add more flexibility and reliability to
Indorama and would help us better serve customers across Europe."

The PET Resin assets from this acquisition would form a part of
SET listed Indorama Polymers, Thailand (IRP) and help to achieve
their global vision of being amongst the top 3 PET Resin
manufacturers. AlphaPet Inc, USA a subsidiary of IRP is currently
building USA's state of art PET Resin project co-located to BP's PTA
assets in Decatur, Alabama. The virtually integrated facility at
Decatur, Alabama and the Integrated facilities in Europe will help
IRP to participate in the value chain and strengthen its
competitiveness. Indorama Group's PTA plant in Thailand already meets
IRP needs within the country. IRP group will reach achieve a
worldwide capacity of 1.4 million tpa of PET resin upon commissioning
of AlphaPet Inc. and the completion of this acquisition.

Indorama Group is the given name to the unconsolidated business of
the Lohia family. These businesses are owned and managed
independently. Indorama Group has diverse business interests in PTA,
Wool, Cement and Petrochemicals in addition to PET.

ots Originaltext: Indorama Holdings
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

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Press Contacts: Mr. Anil Lohia, Mr. Pramod Dubey, Tel: +66-2-661-6661