Saudi Arabia’s SABIC and South Korea’s SK Global Chemical have concluded negotiations for a 50-50 joint venture (JV) to purchase a special solution technology and a manufacturing plant for US$640mn
The JV is SABIC’s latest investment in the Far East’s manufacturing sector.
The JV, called SABIC SK Nexlene Company and headquartered in Singapore, will purchase the Nexlene solution technology and a plant that makes a range of high-performance ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymers products in Ulsan, South Korea. The plant will produce metallocene based linear low-density polyethylene, polyolefin plastomers, and polyolefin elastomers to meet the growing needs of diverse industries such as flexible packaging, industrial and agricultural film, automotive, consumer products (footwear), medical, and construction.
The Singapore firm’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Korea Nexlene Company (KNC), owns the manufacturing plant in Ulsan, which has an annual capacity of 230,000 tonnes. The parties intend to further expand capacity with the construction and operation of additional plants globally.
Meanwhile, Nexalene will offer customers better performance, manufacturability, and final product properties, including impact strength, enhanced toughness, superior transparency, low heat-seal temperature, incremental output, and improved organoleptic properties. The packaging industry will benefit from lighter versions of Nexlene (mLLDPE) for producing films to manufacture flexible food packaging and wrapping materials. They can also be used in pipes and consumer goods, such as roto-moulded articles.
SABIC acting vice-chairman and CEO Yousef Al-Benyan said, “We are very pleased to launch this partnership with SK Global Chemical, which is the latest stage in SABIC’s global expansion. By growing our presence in South Korea, we are opening up new markets globally and reinforcing our position as a global leader – a major goal of our 2025 strategy.”
The new venture is expected to help both partners grow in the highly-specialised polyethylene market by providing high-value polymer products to global customers. The solidification of the partnership with SK Global Chemical will complement SABIC’s polymers portfolio and enable them to offer a more varied, cost-effective, and customer-focused selection of products.
