Invista to sell idled Ontario PET plant - reports

06 March 2009 17:29  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--Invista has put its idled 195,000 tonne/year polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant in Millhaven near Kingston, Ontario, up for sale but may find it hard to attract buyer interest in the current market climate, an industry analyst said on Friday.

A spokesperson for the Wichita, Kansas-based fibre major said the plant remained idled but would not confirm that it was for sale.

Invista idled the Millhaven plant in December, citing the economic downturn.

In February, Invista said it would cease production at its PET and dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) complex in Offenbach, Germany, after efforts to sell the site had failed, and in October it mothballed 150,000 tonne/year of PET capacity at Greer, South Carolina.

John Cummings, an independent Toronto-based petrochemicals analyst, said Invista would find it hard to sell the Millhaven plant in the current tough market.

The plant’s main feedstock supplier, purified terephthalic acid (PTA) producer Interquisa Canada in Montreal, was an unlikely buyer, Cummings said.

Instead, Interquisa Canada’s stakeholders Interquisa of Spain and Quebec government investment firm Societe Generale de financement (SGF) seemed more likely to exit the market, if they could find a buyer, he said.

One option for Invista could be to find a buyer who would acquire the whole chain, that is, Invista’s PET plant at Millhaven, Interquisa’s PTA plant, and Petro-Canada’s Parachem aromatics plant in Montreal which supplies Interquisa, Cummings said.

Earlier this week, PTT Poly Canada, a joint venture between Shell and SGF, said it planned to permanently close an unprofitable polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT) plant in Montreal after efforts to sell the plant had failed.

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By: Stefan Baumgarten
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