The Siam Cement Group (SCC) has entered into a $225 million joint venture in Iran to produce HDPE with the production capacity of 300,000 ton per year, and is expected to start commercial operation by the first half of 2008. SCC will retain a 38% stake in the project, while National Petrochemical Company of Iran, Itochu Corporation of Japan, and National Petrochemical Company of Thailand, all of whom are experienced in the petrochemicals industry, will hold stakes of 40%, 12%, and 10%, respectively. SCC?s investment in equity will be approximately $26 million or 1,040 MB. Moreover, the project?s risks have been managed with the insurance coverage issued by the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and the Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI). MIGA is a unit of the World Bank Group. This initiative is in line with SCC?s strategy to gain access into the middle-east region which contains the world?s lowest cost petrochemicals feedstock. In particular, the HDPE plant will derive its feedstock from Iran olefins crackers, which is considered to be globally competitive and are of great importance to their national petrochemicals program. Hence, the project is enhanced with an integrated feedstock supply and committed long term viability. Furthermore, this investment will allow for increased production capacity, in response to the ever increasing global demand of petrochemicals products, as existing polyolefins plants are currently running at full utilization.