August 24, 2007

Governor Riley Announces Decatur Selected as Site of New Manufacturing Plant

DECATUR – Governor Bob Riley was joined by company and local officials on Friday to announce that Decatur will be the site of a new manufacturing plant that is expected to create employment for approximately 100.

AlphaPet, a new subsidiary of Thailand-based Indorama Polymers, will manufacture Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) resin at the $160 million plant. PET resins are used to make packaging materials for soft drinks and other beverages and liquids.

“Alabama is successfully diversifying its economy, and that is bringing more new jobs to our state than ever before,” Governor Riley said.  “We are very pleased that AlphaPet and Indorama have chosen Decatur as the location for their largest and most modern manufacturing facility, and we pledge to continue working with the company to make sure their operation in our state is very successful.”

“This project is attractive to us for a number of reasons,” said Aloke Lohia, CEO of Indorama Polymers. “The State of Alabama and Morgan County offer great location and infrastructure, both of which help us meet our North American customers’ needs. This location helped us lower the total capitalization of AlphaPet to an important internal benchmark allowing us to move forward with confidence in our competitiveness and sustainability. AlphaPet is very timely, as we see a looming PET shortage in 2009, as each region in the world heads towards self sufficiency. Moreover, given BP’s formidable technological and integrated position, we are delighted to have them as our supplier as we expect PTA utilizations to tighten in the future.”

The company plans to begin engineering and construction activities for its manufacturing facility immediately.

Indorama is the world’s only PET producer with plants in Asia, Europe and North America, and will bring to Decatur the latest state-of-art technology whereby this manufacturing facility will rank as the largest and most modern PET resin facility in the U.S.

The Decatur plant will have the flexibility to produce different grades of resin simultaneously, allowing the company to cater to carbonated soft drink, water and custom container customers.

Indorama’s current PET resin production facility in the U.S. is StarPet, Inc. located in Asheboro, NC and facilities outside of the U.S. are in Thailand and Lithuania.