OREANDA-NEWS. Sistema JSFC (“Sistema”) (LSE: SSA), the largest publicly-traded diversified holding company in Russia and the CIS, today announces that its subsidiary JSC United Petrochemical Company (“UPC”) has signed a joint venture (“JV”) agreement with Mexican company Grupo Petrotemex, S.A. de C.V., a subsidiary of Alpek, S.A.B. de C.V. (“Alpek”) for the construction of an integrated purified terepthalic acid (PTA) - polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant in Ufa, Bashkortostan.

Under the agreement, Alpek and UPC will elaborate a detailed business plan to determine the project's feasibility. Alpek and UPC will each invest USD 10 million in the completion of the plant's evaluation stage. Construction is subject to both companies approving the business plan.

The new facility is expected to be an IntegRex® PTA - PET site dedicated to serve the Russian market with a maximum installed capacity of 600,000 tonnes PTA and 600,000 tonnes PET. The parties are negotiating the supply of the required material - Paraxylene - with JSOC Bashneft.

The European Commission has approved the establishment of the JV. Implementation of the project will be subject to additional approvals from governmental authorities.