Capital injection into QCP for a €35 mln circular polymer plant at Chemelot (NL)
A consortium of Chemelot Ventures, NV Industriebank LIOF and strategic investor SITA will provide capital to QCP B.V. for the development and construction of a sophisticated large scale plastics recycling plant at Chemelot (Geleen, the Netherlands). QCP, which stands for Quality Circular Polymers, is a new company that will provide brand owners and plastics convertors with polymers of high and consistent quality, based on used plastics.
As part of the total financing QCP was able to attract debt financing from Rabobank using the Dutch GO and BSK guarantee schemes, the Limburg Energie Fonds (LEF) and the Province of Limburg. The building will be financed by the company Langen (Elsloo, the Netherlands). The plant will have a nameplate capacity of 100,000 ton per year and will be realized in three phases. The total investment amounts to € 75 mln, of which € 35 mln in the first phase, planned to go live by the end of 2015. Focus will be on polypropylene and polyethylene.
The strategic participation of SITA, part of Suez Environment, a supplier of used plastics, will enable QCP to push the circular plastics industry to the next level. QCP is an initiative of Huub Meessen and Marc Houtermans, entrepreneurs with extensive experience in petrochemicals. The investment in QCP is the first of the newly formed Chemelot Ventures, which is the successor of Limburg Ventures. For co-investor LIOF it is one of its largest investments of the past few years. For SITA this is an opportunity to enter downstream markets, create value from its raw materials and close the loop.
QCP will develop a ‘plant of the future’ which will produce polymers of consistent, high quality for demanding applications based on used plastics. These circular polymers will be able to replace fossil fuel based plastics. The know-how and laboratories available at the Chemelot Campus will be an important asset to realize this. QCP will create up to 40 direct jobs during phase 1, growing to 100 after phase 3. In addition, 200 to 300 indirect jobs are expected to be created.
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About QCP and circular polymers
The annual demand for plastics in Europe is about 50 million tons. These plastics are made from oil and gas, the prices of which are far higher in Europe than, for example, in the Middle East and the United States. In these areas, new refineries, crackers and polymer plants are being built, putting pressure on the European petrochemical industry.
Although plastics are extremely versatile and offer large advantages over other materials such as metals, the industry is facing an end-of-lifetime issue, with plastics ending up in oceans and in the environment at large. In Europe alone, plastic waste is estimated at 25 million ton per year. Therefore, the European Commission is about to ban landfill and incineration.
This will make large quantities of used plastics available, constituting a sustainable alternative to fossil raw materials. This will benefit the environment, by reducing both waste and greenhouse gases. In addition, QCP responds to the desire of the public in general and brand owners in particular to use our scarce resources for the automotive, packaging, construction or electronics markets in a more circular and sustainable way.
For further information, Huub Meessen, QCP, huub.meessen@gmail.com, tel. +31 6 53379452, www.QCPolymers.com.
About Chemelot Ventures
Chemelot Ventures is an active regional venture capital investor in materials and life sciences in the south of The Netherlands. We have a strong focus on value enhancement of our portfolio companies by using our network and the network of our LP’s, DSM Nederland, the Province of Limburg, regional development agency LIOF and Rabobank. Chemelot Ventures is the successor fund of Limburg Ventures which started in 2004 and made 22 investments.
For further information, Casper Bruens, Chemelot Ventures, info@chemelotventures.wp3.go2people.nl/, www.chemelotventures.wp3.go2people.nl/.