May 5 2008
NOVA Chemicals today announced that the company has signed a letter of intent with Reliance Industries Limited to form a building and construction joint venture. The proposed new joint venture plans to leverage NOVA Chemicals' green building and construction technology to design, engineer and build a range of high-efficiency structures for the Indian sub-continent.
"This new venture will enable us to work with Reliance to build a large, profitable business based on our proprietary Performance Styrenics building and construction systems," said Chris Pappas, NOVA Chemicals President and COO. "India has a $60 billion construction market that is growing at about 20 percent per year. The potential for energy-efficient buildings in India is very exciting and these systems are an excellent fit for Reliance Retail's strategy."
These unique building and construction systems and component parts, based on expandable polystyrene, minimize resource consumption while decreasing on-going energy demand by as much as a third. The components of the system include structural and non-structural roof, decking and wall panels.
The new venture is expected to be operational by the third quarter of 2008 following finalization of formal agreements. Initial steps necessary to manufacture components in India are underway. The first activity of the venture will be construction of buildings for Reliance Retail in India.
NOVA Chemicals develops and manufactures chemicals, plastic resins and end-products that make everyday life safer, healthier and easier. Our employees work to ensure health, safety, security and environmental stewardship through our commitment to Responsible Careâ. NOVA Chemicals shares are traded as NCX on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges.
Posted May 6th,2008