Page 48 - Plastics News August 2019

BUSINESS NEWS

Kordsa acquires Axiom Materials Saudi Aramco to buy 20% stake
for USD181m in Reliance Industries' oil-to-

chemicals business
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Kannounced the acquisition of Axiom Materials for $181
million. Kordsa says that this investment makes the company he much-talked about deal between Reliance
WKH RQO\ ZRUOGZLGH TXDOLÀHG PDQXIDFWXUHU RI 2[LGH 2[LGH TIndustries (RIL) and Saudi state-owned oil giant
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0DWHULDOV .RUGVD KDV FRPSOHWHG WKH ÀUVW SKDVH RI LWV JRDO annual general meeting Chairman Mukesh Ambani
to build a second Kordsa in composite technologies, and announced that
that this alliance will strengthen its ability to develop Aramco has
new products. Axiom Materials’ composite products, agreed to take a
used especially in aircraft engines, have applications in a 20 per cent stake
variety of industries. Kordsa also recently established the in the company's
Composite Technologies Center of Excellence, conjointly oil refinery and
GHYHORSHG ZLWK 6DEDQF× 8QLYHUVLW\ DQG LQ WKH chemical business
company acquired the companies Fabric Development Inc., at an enterprise
Textile Products and Advanced Honeycomb Technologies, value of $75
to advance composite materials to the aerospace industry. billion (around Rs
´:H WRRN WKH ÀUVW VWHS RI RXU JURZWK VWUDWHJ\ ZLWK WKH 5.32 lakh crore).
Composite Technologies Center of Excellence, one of the This is among the
IHZ LQWHJUDWHG SURGXFWLRQ FHQWHUV LQ WKH ZRUOG µ VD\V largest foreign investments in India. Though, earlier
VD\V &HQN $OSHU SUHVLGHQW RI 6DEDQF× +ROGLQJ ,QGXVWULDOV there were reports Reliance Industries talks to grant
Group and chairman of Kordsa. “Our journey went ahead D PLQRULW\ VWDNH LQ LWV UHÀQLQJ DVVHWV WR 6DXGL $UDPFR
in aerospace industry with Fabric Development and Textile have hit a roadblock over the valuation and structure
Products, which produce highly-engineered structural of the deal. As part of the deal, Saudi Aramco will
materials; our competency has expanded with the supply 500,000 barrels per day or 25 million tonnes per
acquisition of Advanced Honeycomb Technologies, which DQQXP RI FUXGH RLO WR 5,/ V WZLQ UHÀQHULHV DW -DPQDJDU
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this investment, we will create a growth platform in North 7KH WRWDO FDSDFLW\ RI WKHVH WZR UHÀQHULHV LV PLOOLRQ
$PHULFD WKH DHURVSDFH KXE µ ´:LWK WKH DFTXLVLWLRQ RI tonnes per annum and Ambani plans to expand its
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capacity to just over 41 million tonne from current 35.2
million tonne. As per the deal announced by Ambani
today, Saudi Aramco will take 20 per cent stake in a
proposed special purpose vehicle (SPV) housing the twin
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This development comes just days after RIL signed an
agreement with British energy giant BP plc to form
a new joint venture that will include a retail service
station network and aviation fuels business across India.
Axiom Materials, providing advanced technology composite The JV will assume ownership of RIL's existing Indian
materials to the next generation transportation vehicles as fuel retail network of over 1,400 sites across India,
well as the aerospace industries and leading the composite which the partners aim to expand fourfold to 5,500
market through its R&D studies, we have expanded our VLWHV RYHU WKH QH[W ÀYH \HDUV :H H[SHFW WR FRPSOHWH
H[SHUWLVH LQ WKH ÀHOG RI FRPSRVLWHV DQG ÀQDOL]HG WKH transactions with Saudi Aramco and BP within this
SRUWIROLR RI DGYDQFHG FRPSRVLWH LQWHUPHGLDWHV µ VD\V $OL ÀQDQFLDO \HDU 7KHVH DUH H[SHFWHG WR JHQHUDWH LQÁRZ
dDO×ĂNDQ &(2 RI .RUGVD &(2 RI 5V ODNK FURUH $PEDQL VDLG DW WKH $*0

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