Global PET packaging leader Octal has secured a RO114 million ($296 million) senior term loan from a group of six Middle Eastern banks for the second phase of its expansion this year.

The privately owned, Oman-based manufacturer opened a 400,000 metric ton (m/t) PET resins and sheet packaging facility in the southeast port city of Salalah in January 2009.

Phase two of the complex, which will be commissioned from June 2012, will add an additional 527,000 m/t of production, making Octal the world’s largest producer of PET resins on one site and the largest PET manufacturer in the world.

The six banks which took part in the new round of funding are Bank Muscat, Bank Dhofar, National Bank of Oman, Bank Sohar, Ahli Bank and Qatar National Bank.

Existing shareholders Muscat Overseas and Oman & Emirates Investment Holding Company have also agreed a junior debt facility of $15 million.

“Today is another landmark for Octal and a proud moment for Oman. In less than five years, we have established a world-scale manufacturing complex and export operation in the Sultanate serving more than 40 countries, generating diversified growth for the local economy, and making a significant contribution to the development of Salalah Free Zone and the Port of Salalah,” said Octal chairman Sheikh Saad Suhail Bahwan.

“The completion of the second phase of expansion later this year will put the company well on the way to achieving $1.5 billion in annual sales by 2012, as it converts new packaging applications in PET sheet including those for yoghurt, meat and cheese,” added Nicholas P Barakat, managing director of Octal.-TradeArabia News Service