Iran's NPC International earlier bought 60 percent of NPC Alliance from Metro Alliance Holdings and Equities Corp. (Mahec), a company majority-owned by "plastics king" William Gatchalian. Earlier this year, Mahec and Singaporean company Pan Pacific Capital Advisors Pte. Ltd. signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to undertake jointly the re-commissioning of the Mahec-owned plant. The MOU contains the basic terms of reference governing the funding of the re-commissioning of the $350-million plant. Following the signing, Mahec said the initial funding from the partnership would cover not only the cost of re-commissioning but also the purchase of startup feedstock to prepare the plant for operations. Mahec eventually sold majority of its shares in the plant to Iran's NPC International. In a related development, the Board of Investments has approved the transfer of all the pioneer incentives earlier granted to the Bataan plant to its new owners. Since the plant closed only a year after going commercial, it could not take advantage of the incentives. The Bataan polyethylene plant has a rated capacity of 275,000 metric tons a year, with enough room for future expansion. It uses the BP innovene gas phase process, which entails processing of polyethylene resin for distribution to plastic producers. The plant was decommissioned in 2003, before being acquired by Mahec last year through a debt and equity purchase from a consortium composed of the United Kingdom's British Petroleum, Malaysia's Petronas, Japan's Sumitomo and some Philippine investors. PIN/Dispatches