Lotte Chem says looking to acquire Singapore's Jurong Aromatics

[SEOUL] South Korea's Lotte Chemical Corp said on Thursday it had submitted a letter of intent earlier this month to acquire Singapore petrochemical company Jurong Aromatics Corp (JAC).

Lotte Chemical said in a filing to the stock exchange in South Korea that it had been short-listed on Jan 10 to acquire the Singapore firm, adding that details had not been decided.

JAC restarted one of the world's largest integrated petrochemical complexes in Singapore around July last year, after shutting the US$2.4 billion plant in December 2014. The firm went into receivership in September 2015.

In December 2016, Lotte Chemical said it would invest about US$215 million to increase its ethylene capacity to 1.2 million tonnes per year by 2018.

REUTERS