Indorama Thailand announces acquisition of Eastman’s European PTA and PET assets

Bangkok, Thailand, 1st April 2008 - Indorama Thailand today confirmed completion of its previously announced agreement to acquire Eastman’s PTA and PET assets in Netherlands and The United Kingdom by its subsidiaries, Indorama Holdings Limited and Indorama Polymers PCL, respectively.

Group CEO Aloke Lohia thanked his team for the relentless effort put in by them to achieve closing within the defined timeframe and believes that the group's strategic direction will be beneficial for all its stakeholders. The last 3 years saw the group revenue tripling to USD 1.7 billion in 2007 compared to around USD 500 million in 2004. “Going forward, we have a clear strategy for creating significant shareholder value,” Lohia said, “we are leveraging the greatest strengths we have as an industrial house, the attractive growth prospects of our business and the capabilities of our people to innovate and execute. We expect to build on our strong earnings by focusing on two additional areas - PTA and Polyester fibers - in addition to the ongoing PET growth.”

Indorama Thailand has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Thailand’s SET listed firm - Tuntex Thailand PCL to acquire their business consisting of Polyester fibers and filaments. “This makes a strategic fit with our existing Thailand based polyester business - Indopoly Limited. The revenue from this segment is thus set to rise from USD 131 million in 2007 to USD 600 million in 2010 post a total restructuring exercise.” Lohia explained, “we believe we will emerge as Thailand’s premier Polyester company in Fibers as well, as we have in PET, and we expect our total polymer production to rise close to 2 million tonnes from 700,000 tonnes in 2007.” Together with Indorama associates in Indonesia and India the total Polyester production will rise to about 2.8 million tonnes in 2010 allowing the group to leverage its scale in all aspects to create customer delight.

“With regards to PTA, the key feedstock for polyester, we will continue to strengthen our position by owning and/or co-locating to strategic assets. Indorama currently has a 700,000 tonnes PTA facility in Thailand and Eastman’s 340,000 tonnes PTA plant in Rotterdam. In addition, Tuntex Thailand PCL includes a minority interest in Thailand’s first PTA producer - Tuntex Petrochemicals PCL which has a capacity of 550,000 tonnes.” Lohia added, “we are convinced that in the commodity industry, not only do we need scale, we also have to integrate into feedstocks to create sustainable competitive advantages and Indorama Thailand is clearly headed towards this. At Indorama Thailand, we have a history of following through on our commitments," Lohia said. "We have great confidence that the group's strategy will support Indorama’s sustained success and we look forward to maintaining the track record we have established.”

About Indorama Thailand
Indorama Thailand is the given name to the parent organisation of legal entities operating in Thailand i.e. Indorama Polymers PCL, Indorama Holdings Limited and Indorama Petrochem Limited. Indorama Thailand is a leading World Class Industrial House in the Aromatic chain consisting of PTA, Polyester fibers and PET polymers. The beneficial owners of the alliance are the family of Mr. SP Lohia of Indonesia and Mr. Aloke Lohia of Thailand.

Indorama Thailand is a leader in all major global markets, with leading products and technology, as well as sizeable captive supplies of raw materials and an outstanding distribution network. An industrial presence in 7 European, Asian and American countries exposes the company to all the key polyester markets, from emerging to mature, positions it will be looking to develop in the high-growth Brazil, Russian, Indian and Chinese markets (BRIC).

Indorama Thailand’s subsidiary Indorama Polymers PCL is listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.