KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (April 2, 2009)—Green Rubber Inc. plans to raise up to $25 million in capital to finance a rapid expansion resulting in production of its devulcanized scrap rubber in several countries.
Datuk Vinod Sekhar said the firm plans to open factories as either wholly owned or joint ventures in the U.S., South Africa, Guatemala, Canada and probably the Middle East in the next 12 months. He said the projects will take the production capacity for the material from about 2,000 metric tons annually to more than 150,000 tons.
A Green Rubber official late last year said the firm was considering opening a plant in the Atlanta area.
Green Rubber utilizes the De-Link chemical process, co-developed in the early 1990s by the late B.C. Sekhar, director of the Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia and Vinod Sekhar's father, and Russian polymer scientist Vitaly Kormer. The company claims the product offers considerable price savings over virgin natural rubber.
Sekhar said there currently is very strong demand for the material, far more than Green Rubber can product at its Malaysian operations. He said about 1,200 ton per month is going into retreaded tires.