Petstar

completed

Petstar S.A. de C.V. (Petstar) will construct and operate a bottle-to-bottle plastic recycling facility that will convert post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles into food-grade, recycled PET resin that will be sold to the Mexican soft-drinks bottling industry. The plant will be located in Toluca, in the State of Mexico, and will have a production capacity of 20,000 tons per year. The discarded PET bottles that the plant recycles will reduce the volume of municipal solid waste generated in Mexico and will reduce the consumption of virgin PET by bottle manufacturers.Petstar’s wholly owned subsidiary, Avangard Mexico S.A. de C.V. (Avangard), is the largest collector of post-consumer plastic in Mexico. In 2006, it collected over 74,000 tonnes of PET. Avangard sorts, bales and grinds the PET and currently exports most of its product to the U.S. and China. It will exclusively supply the Petstar recycling facility.The project sponsor is Promotora Ambiental S.A.B. de C.V. (PASA), a publicly listed, leading Mexican environmental services business with operations in 42 cities and 2005 revenues of $193 million. PASA has a 55% shareholding in Petstar. The remaining 45% of the business is owned by Petstar’s management and their extended family (33%) and by IMG Investments LLC (12%), a privately owned US investment company.The Petstar facility will be constructed in the industrial park of Parque Industrial San Cayetano, outside the city of Toluca, in the State of Mexico. The Petstar manufacturing plant will consist of two main components which include: - the sorting, washing and flaking process; and - the melting, extrusion, and solid state purification process.