Zimmer AG (D- 60338 Frankfurt; www.zimmer-ag.de), which belongs to the mg technologies group ( www.mg-ag.de), has been commissioned by the Austrian Petrochemical Holding AG, Vienna, to upgrade equipment that was supplied for a PET bottle-granule plant in Tver / Russia back in 1994/95 and ensure that it complies with the state of the art, prior to completing the plant and bringing it into operation. The order is worth around EUR 12.3m. The plant, which never came on stream, since the original Russian owner ran out of money, will now reach a capacity of 52,500 t/y under the management of Zimmer. The project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2001 and marks the first polyester plant for bottle granules in the Russian Federation.

The plant will be operated by a newly-founded Russian joint venture in which the Siberian-Ural Petrochemical Co. (SIBUR, Moscow; www.subur.ru) has a substantial interest. Further background information here: according to the latest announcements, the former petrochemical holding of Russia´s biggest corporate group, Gazprom, in which the latter still holds a share of around 18%, is to merge with the parent company again, along with Alfa-Nafta, which forms part of the key Russian financial holding, Alfa Group, Moscow.

Zimmer AG has also been affected by restructuring. mg technologies acquired all the shares of the (now former) Lurgi Zimmer AG from Lurgi AG with effect as of 1 October, and has taken the company out of the Lurgi Group. Zimmer AG now forms part of the new mg engineering group division, together with Lurgi AG, Lurgi Lentjes AG and GEA AG.