Irish company acquires diamond plant in Ukraine

Element Six Abrasives announced today the acquisition of a majority of the shareholding of OJSC "Poltava Diamond Plant", a Ukrainian diamond synthesis plant which produces resin bond synthetic diamond, according to the company’s press-release.

This plant complements the other major diamond synthesis locations of Element Six Abrasives in Sweden and South Africa, each of which has specialised in specific synthesis technology and product manufacture. A further specialised synthesis plant will be opened in China later this year.

The output from the Ukrainian plant will be supplied to the globalprocessing and added value centre of Element Six Abrasives in Shannon, Ireland where the product will be adapted mainly for internal use in the

processing of polycrystalline products.

Output from all of the other Element Six synthesis plants follow a similar routing before they are supplied to global markets through the Element Six distribution network of companies.

Mr Christian Hultner, CEO of Element Six says: "This acquisition provides astrategic addition to the Element Six Abrasives` capability in synthetic diamond grit in a low cost environment and further illustrates our commitment to the industrial diamond industry.

We look forward with enthusiasm to working closely with our new Ukrainian colleagues who have demonstrated such commitment and competence to the development of their business in the past."

Element Six is the world`s leading supplier of high quality industrial diamond and the complementary cubic boron nitride (cBN) abrasive materials. These materials are available both in their single crystal and polycrystalline forms, for abrasive and non-abrasive industrial uses. The Element Six Abrasives group of companies operates internationally with processing and manufacturing facilities in Ireland, Sweden, South Africa and Wales.

 Poltava Diamond Plant was established in 1966 as the largest and most important enterprise for industrial diamond in the USSR. In 1996 the company was privatised by the Ukrainian State Property Fund and reorganised as an open joint stock company. Today it is the largest producer of synthetic industrial diamond in Ukraine and the whole of the CIS.

The news was monitored by The Action Ukraine Report (AUR) Monitoring Service, Morgan Williams, Editor.