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NOVA Chemicals Announces Plan to Expand Joint Venture With INEOS to North America
NOVA Chemicals Announces Plan to Expand Joint Venture With INEOS to North America.
About this update from Northisle Copper And Gold Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nPITTSBURGH, March 22 /CNW/ - NOVA Chemicals Corporation\n(NYSE:NCX)(TSX:NCX) today announced it has signed a letter of intent with\nINEOS to expand the two companies' existing European joint venture to include\nNorth American assets. Under the terms of the proposed agreement, the newly\nexpanded 50:50 joint venture will include NOVA Chemicals' STYRENIX unit and\nother styrenic polymer assets. The STYRENIX unit includes NOVA Chemicals'\nNorth American styrene and solid polystyrene assets, as well as the company's\ninterest in the existing European joint venture with INEOS, called NOVA\nInnovene. INEOS will contribute its North American styrene and polystyrene\nassets, as well as its interest in the existing NOVA Innovene European joint\nventure.\n\n\nThe expanded joint venture will also include solid polystyrene-based\nNAS(R), ZYLAR(R) and DYLARK(R) polymers from NOVA Chemicals and the AVANTRA(R)\nspecialty products of INEOS.\n\n\n"We are very pleased with this path and believe this larger, stronger JV\nwill quickly build on the success of our recent work with INEOS in Europe. It\nprovides a clear opportunity to significantly reduce costs and participate in\nindustry consolidation," said Jeffrey M. Lipton, President and CEO of NOVA\nChemicals. "We expect the expanded JV to add value for our shareholders and we\nwill continue to look for further consolidation opportunities."\n\n\nThe transaction to form the expanded joint venture is expected to close\nin the third quarter of 2007, subject to approvals and completion of\ndefinitive agreements. The expanded venture is expected to have revenues of\napproximately U.S. $3.5 billion per year. Upon completion, the newly expanded\njoint venture is expected to have the following capacity rankings:\n\n\n\n----------------------------------------------------------------------\nStyrene (number sign)1 - (number sign)5\nSolid Polystyrene (number sign)1 (number sign)2 (number sign)2\nExpandable Polystyrene - (number sign)1 (number sign)4\n----------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nNOVA Chemicals will retain full ownership of its olefins/polyolefins\nunit, industry-leading North American expandable polystyrene business,\nARCEL(R) advanced foam resin, and new expandable polystyrene-based business\nventures.\n\n\nNOVA Chemicals produces p...