• Recycled polypropylene resin producer PureCycle Technologies has received an investment of USD 50 million from South Korean chemical company SK Geo Centric (previously known as SK Global Chemical) to expand its plastic recycling business across Asia. Following the investment, SK Geo Centric is reported to hold an undisclosed stake in PureCycle. 

<ul><li>SK Geo Centric and PureCycle initially partnered in August 2021 to build Asia's first plastic purification plant and supply PureCycle’s ultra-pure polypropylene resin (UPRP) to the South Korean market. In January this year, Ulsan in South Korea was chosen as the location to set up the plant, which is expected to be completed by 2024 with a capacity to process 60,000 tons of plastic waste. The two companies are now reportedly targeting China and Southeast Asia as potential regions to build plastic recycling facilities, with plans to also set up a joint venture during this year.</ul>

<ul><li>SK Geo Centric also participated in PureCycle’s USD 250 million private equity financing round last week to support the construction of PureCycle’s second plant in Georgia.</ul>

• For SK Geo Centric, the strategic partnership with and investment in PureCycle is in line with its target to ensure it produces all plastic from recycled materials by 2027.  SK Geo Centric also plans to invest KRW 5 trillion (~USD 4 billion ) by 2025 to adopt green products and expand its plastic waste recycling capacity to an annual 900,000 tons.

<ul><li> Analyst Quicktake: This investment follows Purecycle’s corporate update announcement last week. The company appears to be taking the partnership route to expand into the Asia market. Besides SK Geo Centric, PureCycle has also partnered with Mitsui & Co. Ltd to set up a UPRP production plant in Japan and expand its presence across the Asia Pacific. PureCycle has also set an aggressive growth target to reach a production capacity of 1 billion pounds annually in-house by 2025 and reports that its first plant in Ohio (Plant 1) is on track and is expected to become operational by end of 2022, with its second plant in Georgia (Plant 2) to follow in 2024. PureCycle plans to build two more plants: one in Europe and another in an undecided location.</ul>