Chemicals corporate LyondellBassel agreed to purchase a 50% stake today in Quality Circular Polymers (QCP), a Netherlands-based polymer recycling plant backed by the provincial government of Limburg.
No value was disclosed for the transaction, which involves LyondellBassel buying stakes from regional strategic unit Limburg Development and Investment Company, through which Limburg’s government had invested, and VC fund Chemelot Ventures.
Regulatory approval for the deal is anticipated by the end of 2017.
Founded in 2014, QCP operates a polymer recycling plant that converts plastic waste for reuse as receptacles, automotive parts or electrical and engineering materials.
The facility processes 25,000 tons of polymer materials at present, but is set for an expansion to 35,000 tons in 2018 and 50,000 tons by 2020.
LyondellBassel will operate QCP on a 50-50 basis alongside existing investor Suez, a water and waste recycling company. Suez will source post-consumer plastics for the plant, while LyondellBassel will market the polymer output.
The partners hope to exploit QCP’s location in Chemelot in the southern Netherlands.
QCP received funding commitments worth $93.8m in 2014 from Suez, Liof and Chemelot, of which $43.75m was to be invested by the end of 2015.
The municipality of Sittard-Geleen and Limburgs Energie Fonds, an energy-focused vehicle launched by Limburg in 2013, have also invested previously, and while the 50-50 split indicates that both of these investors will exit, this was not confirmed.
Tys van Elk, managing director of Liof, said: “For the region this will further strengthen its polymer recycling cluster and the circular economy in Limburg and lead to more jobs.”
– This article first appeared on our sister site, Global Government Venturing.