Salalah: Omani petrochemicals firm OCTAL, a leading producer of PET for the global clear rigid packaging industry, announced on Tuesday that it has entered into an agreement to sell 100 per cent of its stake to Mexican petrochemicals giant Alpek, SAB de CV.
With its proprietary direct-to-sheet manufacturing technology and early adoption of advanced PET resin manufacturing processes, OCTAL has become a global leader in PET packaging. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2022, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
Speaking on the sale, Nicholas P Barakat, CEO of OCTAL said, “OCTAL has grown into a globally recognized company and a world leader in PET Sheet, with manufacturing facilities and offices in Oman, USA, KSA and the UAE and sales of over $1 billion. Innovation, sustainability and expansion have been key enablers in OCTAL’s success which could only have been achieved with the vision and guidance of our shareholders. Looking ahead, we see a bright future for OCTAL under Alpek’s ownership.”
Salalah-based OCTAL is the world’s largest PET resin and sheet producer on a single site. The company was set up in 2006 to manufacture PET Sheet, resin, and packaging. Its patented DPET technology catapulted the company on an impressive growth trajectory in a short span of just over 15 years making it an industry reference in product quality, manufacturing efficiencies and unmatched environmental sustainability. With a workforce of more than 750 people, OCTAL produces one million tons of PET resin, DPET, APET, recycled sheet and printed PET packages per year.
Alpek, a publicly traded company listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange, is a leading producer of PTA and PET worldwide, the largest rPET producer in the Americas, the third largest expandable polystyrene manufacturer worldwide, and the only producer of polypropylene in Mexico. In 2020, Alpek reported revenues of $5.3 billion and comparable EBITDA of $601 million. The company operates 32 plants in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and the United Kingdom, and employs more than 6,000 people.
J P Morgan acted as exclusive financial advisor to OCTAL on the transaction and Latham & Watkins LLP were legal advisors to OCTAL.
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