Reliance Acquires German Polyester Firm Trevira
Reliance Industries Ltd., India, has announced that it will acquire Trevira Gmbh & Co.
KG, a specialty polyester manufacturer in Germany. With this transaction, which is its second
international acquisition and the first in the polyester sector, Reliance will become the world’s
largest polyester producer in terms of capacity.According to Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance,
the company bought Trevira from Deutsche Bank for approximately 80 million euros. Exact terms of
the transaction, which is subject to approval by the European Union, are not available.Trevira has
an annual capacity to manufacture 130,000 metric tons of polyester staple fibers and filament yarns
and chips in its four locations in Europe — Bobingen and Guben in Germany, Silkeborg in Denmark,
and Quevaucamps in Belgium. The company had a turnover of 316 million euros in 2003 and has 1,900
employees.Trevira makes specialty value-added products with applications in automotive and home
textiles sectors, and is a leader in special sectors such as fibers for flameretardant fabrics and
semi-technical textiles.Subodh Sapra, president of Reliance’s polyester sector, said, “The
acquisition will help Trevira and Reliance to serve all customers in Europe and other world markets
with polyester products and even better supply chain services.”Reliance sees many advantages in the
Trevira acquisition. In addition to gaining access to the highly competitive European market, where
the Trevira brand is a market leader in certain categories, Reliance also sees an advantage in
having a base in Europe, from which the company can serve the expected demands from those Eastern
European countries that recently joined the European Union.Moreover,Trevira’s research and
development center is expected to complement Reliance’s existing R&D facility.
Fall 2004