Reliance Industries (RIL, Mumbai / India; www.ril.com) is close to taking over all activities of carbon fibre and composites specialist Kemrock Industries and Exports (Vadodara, Gujarat / India; www.kemrock.com), which is up for auction. With this acquisition, the chemicals group focused on polyester production plans to enter the composites sector with applications in renewable energies, transport and infrastructure.

Kemrock is being auctioned off by a banking consortium after the company apparently could not service its loans any more. Local media further reported that Indian authorities were suspecting money laundering activities for some time.

Since Kemrock began carbon fibre production in 2011, the composites specialist has been the only manufacturer of high-performance fibres in the country. The company aimed to manufacture aircraft components in collaboration with the national aerospace company Hindustan Aeronautics (Bangalore, Karnataka / India; www.hal-india.com).