ICI's plant in Bontang

ICI's plant in Bontang

MELBOURNE (Reuter): ICI Australia Ltd plans an A$100 million plant in Indonesia and is considering large investments in Australia, managing director Warren Haynes said.

He said the company was capable of spending A$250 million a year without lifting gearing above its 30 percent limit.

ICI, 62.4 percent owned by Imperial Chemical Industries Plc, had gearing, or net debt to shareholders funds plus net debt, of 5.6 percent at Sept.30.

"We are working actively on several projects which would increase our gearing and some of them are quite sizable," Haynes told a media briefing.

He said one project was a A$100 million ammonium nitrate plant at Bontang on the Indonesian island of Kalimantan.

The project is a joint venture with a private Indonesian company, which he declined to name, but which would have an unspecified minority shareholding.