AL: Governor Bentley Announces Decatur Selected as Site of New Manufacturing Plant

Governor Robert Bentley was joined by Polyplex representatives and both state and local officials recently to announce that Decatur will be the site of a new manufacturing plant that is expected to create employment for approximately 150 people.

Polyplex, a global leader in high performance plastic films (polyester and polypropylene) is focused on end-use market for the flexible packaging and industrial applications, and has manufacturing facilities in India, Thailand and Turkey. The planned investment in Phase-I will include a high speed 8.7 meter wide thin gauge Polyester film line, with an annual capacity of 30,000 MT and feedstock resin plant of 60,000 MT. The investment outlay in Phase-I is $110 million and it will create employment for about 100 people. The plant is expected to be operational by Q3, 2012. The company has plans to expand this facility in Phase-II with another PET film line at an investment of $75 million, which will create an additional 50 jobs. Together the Alabama facility would be Polyplex’s largest capital investment in any single location.

“I am pleased that Polyplex Corporation Limited decided to include Alabama as their first facility in North America,” said Governor Robert Bentley. “Recruiting jobs is our highest priority and we welcome the opportunities this brings for the hard-working people of Alabama. This is great news for our state and look forward to a long partnership with them.”

“The State of Alabama and Morgan County offer excellent industrial infrastructure, trained manpower, vicinity of key raw materials and relative proximity to a majority of customers in the US,” stated Sanjiv Saraf, Chairman of Polyplex Corporation Ltd. “It also has extremely positive and proactively supportive state machinery, which has been instrumental in the decision to locate the plant in Alabama.”

"We are very excited that Polyplex has chosen Alabama for their new production facility and for their US Headquarters operation." said Greg Canfield, Director of the Alabama Development Office. "Alabama's economy continues to diversify with these 150 new jobs and Polyplex's large capital investment shows their confidence in our State's economic development team and in our workforce. We look forward to seeing them grow and prosper in the area."

Polyplex plans to begin engineering and construction activities for its manufacturing facility immediately. The facility will be constructed in the Mallard-Fox Creek Industrial Park located in the City of Decatur.

For more information about Polyplex, visit www.polyplex.com.