Specialist materials group Low & Bonar (London / UK; www.lowandbonar.com) and National Petrochemical Industrial Co (NATPET, Jeddah / Saudi Arabia; www.natpetpp.com) plan to build a joint venture geotextile products manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia. Low & Bonar said the plant will be located close to NATPET's PP plant in Yanbu and will be supplied with PP under a long-term supply agreement with NATPET.

The joint venture will design, manufacture and sell geotextile products for the civil engineering markets in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. Low & Bonar will have a 50% equity interest in the venture and shared operational control with NATPET. The partners expect to obtain the necessary Saudi licences for the venture by mid-2011. Each partner will contribute SAR 32m (EUR 6.2m) to the venture, payable in cash during 2011.

Steve Good, Low & Bonar’s CEO, said the joint venture increases the company’s presence in fast growing emerging markets and is a further step in its development as a global performance materials group.

NATPET is a closed Saudi joint stock company owned by Saudi group Alujain. Marwan Nusair, Alujain’s president, commented: "The geotextiles joint venture is our first downstream venture under NATPET with a view to developing value-added products, creating employment opportunities for Saudis and bringing new technology to the Kingdom." NATPET operates a 400,000 t/y propylene and PP complex in Yanbu Industrial City. The complex produces a range of homopolymers and random and heterophasic copolymers, which are sold in local and international markets.