Montell To Hold Up To 49% Stake
Montell Polyolef- ins, global major in polypropylene and advanced polyolefin materials, has added Nocil Petrochemical Company to its list of production plants which are spread over five continents.
Montell, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Royal Dutch/Shell group, yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Arvind Mafatlal group to own up to 49 per cent equity in the demerged new petrochemicals company of Nocil.
The $3.9 billion Montell was formed in April 1995, when the majority of the polyolefin operations of the Shell group were merged with those of Montedison, including leading polypropylene manufacturer Himont. In October 1997, Shell acquired Montedison's 50 per cent converting Montell into a 100 per cent subsidiary.
The company' products range from high-volume materials for packaging to high-performance resins for engineering components.
Montell maintains its lead in polyolefin technology through focused research.
More than 50 per cent of the world's licensed, high yield polypropylene is produced using Montell's spheripol technology. Montell's production plants account for more than 11.5 million tonnes of annual capacity.
At present, the company is focusing on the Asia Pacific region, South America and the West Asia. It maintains the largest presence outside Europe and North America through a network of wholly-owned operations and joint ventures.
In India, Montell is providing its spheripol technology to Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd. It has also entered into a joint venture with Machino Plastics to produce advanced polyolefins.
Vikram Singh Mehta, country chairman of Shell Group of Companies in India said, "Shell Chemicals is committed to making an investment of $7 billion across the world and India is part of that commitment."
For the newly acquired petrochemicals company of Nocil, both Shell and Montell have embarked on project `lotus' to include setting up a new naphtha cracker with an ultimate capacity of about 6 lakh tonnes and an initial output of 4.5 lakh tonnes of ethylene. It will also include setting up of 2.1 lakh tonne of polypropylene and 2.5 lakh tonnes of propylene facilities.