Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and Mitsubishi Rayon Company Ltd (MRC) signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) yesterday, to establish a 50/50 joint venture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The LoI was signed on behalf of SABIC by Mutlaq Al-Morished, Vice President of Corporate Finance and Chief Financial Officer, and on behalf of MRC by Masanao Kambara, President and Representative Director. The LoI outlines the principal terms of the proposed $1-billion joint venture including the joint-venture structure, technology, marketing and feedstock supply, with start-up targeted for 2013. Under the LoI, the joint venture will utilize the ethylene-based Alpha process commercialized by Lucite (a wholly owned subsidiary of MRC) to manufacture methyl methacrylate monomer (MMA), with a design capacity of 250,000 metric tons annually. Also, the joint venture company will manufacture polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), with a design capacity of 30,000 metric tons annually. --MORE
