Carbios and Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL) announced the signing of a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) to form a joint venture to build the first PET biorecycling plant in France. Based on and subject to the broad terms set out in the MoU, Indorama Ventures plans to raise approximately €110 million in equity and non-convertible debt financing2 for the joint venture, pending final engineering documentation and final economic feasibility studies. Both sides have acknowledged their mutual support for the implementation of the project and their intention to finalize the contract documentation before the end of 2023.

Subject to successful demonstration of this first plant in France, Indorama Ventures reaffirms its intention to potentially expand the technology to other PET sites for future development. Under the agreement signed June 1, 2023, Carabios, which filed for a plant permit in December 2022, should acquire 13ha of land from Indorama Ventures' existing PET plant in Longlawville and permits are expected to be granted by the third quarter of 2023, Thereby, construction will begin by the end of 2023 and is targeted to be operational in 2025. The land surface offers the possibility of doubling the capacity.

As per this MoU, Indorama Ventures will ensure 100% output repolymerization and both partners will collaborate to secure feedstock supply. Taking into account the recent impact of inflation, the total capital investment for the new plant is estimated to be around €230 million. The cost of the project will be financed by the subsidy available for the project3 by Indorama Ventures, the French state and the Grand-Est region, and the equity capitalization of the joint venture by Carbios.

Part of Carbios' equity injection into the joint venture will be financed by a portion of Carbios' current cash position (ie €86 million as of 30 April 2023). Carbios is actively examining the best options for financing its remaining equity injection into the joint venture and will select the most appropriate solution and timeline based on market conditions. The project is part of Indorama Ventures' Vision 2030 ambition to build on its leadership as a global sustainable chemical company.

The company's ESG commitments include spending $1.5 billion to increase recycling capacity to 50 billion PET bottles per year by 2025 and 100 billion bottles per year by 2030. To meet these goals, Indorama Ventures is larger producer of recycled PET resin used in beverages. Bottles, in addition to expanding its global footprint of mechanical recycling sites, including two in France, is investing in new recycling technologies, including advanced recycling.

Carbios has developed a disruptive enzymatic depolymerization technology that enables the efficient and solvent-free recycling of PET plastic and textile waste into virgin-like products, with the aim of achieving perfect sphericity. Carbios has an ambitious plan to become a leading technology provider in the advanced recycling of PET by 2035. Following successful ongoing operations at its demonstration plant in Clermont-Ferrand, France, Carbios has been collaborating with Indorama Ventures for over a year to assess the commercial and technical feasibility.

Feasibility of technology. The world's first industrial-scale enzymatic PET recycling plant in Longlaville will have the capacity to process approximately 50,000 tons of post-consumer PET waste per year, including waste that is not mechanically recyclable, up to 2 billion PET colored bottles Or the equivalent of 2.5 billion PET trays.