Cetex Petrochemicals on Rs. 400-crore expansion drive.

Cetex Petrochemicals, which was acquired by Wayne Burt Capital, a PE Fund, is expanding its product range and capacity at a cost of Rs. 400 crore.

TGS Mahesh, Chairman, Wayne Burt Group, told media persons that Cetex the only manufacturer of Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) and Secondary Butyl Alcohol (SBA) in South-East Asia has doubled its production capacity to 20,000 tonnes a year.

It will also widen its product base of petrochemicals with a modern 50,000-tonne-a-year plant it has acquired from Shell Chemicals, Houston.

The plant is being shifted from the US to Chennai. It will start manufacturing Methyl Iso Butyle Ketone and Methyl Iso Butyl Carbinol from August 2016.

Cetex's products are used in a wide range of applications including lubricants, fuel additives, paints, printing inks, adhesives and coatings.

S Ilanahai, Managing Director, Cetex, said the company is also targeting the export markets. It has tied up with Chevron Oronite, Singapore and US, Mitsui and Sojitz of Japan to market its products.

Further expansions of MEK and SBA are in the pipeline as the demand continues exceed supply in the domestic market.

The expansion is funded by SBI and the product diversification project by Axis Bank, he said. Wayne Burt is backed by US and European PE Funds and has assets of over $1 billion with interests and investments in oil and gas, petrochemicals and aerospace manufacturing sectors.


HBL