Swiss specialty chemicals producer Clariant has agreed to form a joint venture with Saudi Arabian industrial conglomerate Tasnee to produce masterbatches in the Middle East country. To this end, Rowan National Plastic, a wholly owned Tasnee subsidiary, will acquire a 40% stake in the Swiss group's  local production company, Clariant Masterbatches (Saudi Arabia), based at Riyadh.

Claraint said the joint venture's portfolio will include black- and white and color masterbatches as well as additives. A new production facility for white masterbatches is planned to be built at an as yet undisclosed location by 2015. Clariant already supplies masterbatches to Rowan's plastics processing sites at Riyadh and Dammam, in Saudi Arabia's oil-rich eastern region.