What attracted Reliance Industries to Hualon?
Hualon is a textile facility integrated with polyester manufacturing capacities. It is among the largest polyester integrated textile units in the world. It became a distressed asset last year. The Malaysian government appointed Ernst & Young to manage the asset. We’ve been looking at Hualon since March or April this year. By mid-May, the bids were due and, then onwards, we’ve been actively assessing the company. How significant is Hualon to Reliance Industries? What it does to Reliance Industries, the largest polyester manufacturer in the world, is that Hualon will add roughly 25% to our capacities. Hualon is very significant because between our manufacturing facilities in India and Malaysia and what we operate in Europe (Trevira in Germany), our marketshare of textile polyester adds up to a marketshare of 7.5%. This is, indeed, a very very large consolidation play. As you know, cotton prices in the world are rising. So, we continue to remain optimistic about a recovery in polyester p
