LONDON - ICI is investing $14 million in a new waterborne decorative-paint plant in Vietnam. The facility is being constructed at My Phuoc II Industrial Park in Binh Duong Province near Ho Chi Minh City and is scheduled to be operational next year. It is ICI's second paint-manufacturing plant in Vietnam. ICI Paints has been operating in the country since 1996 through a joint venture, ICI Paints (Vietnam) Ltd., in Ho Chi Minh City.

The new facility, wholly owned by ICI through a new company, ICI Vietnam Limited, will use a variety of best-in-class technologies from around the world. ICI Paints currently has 13 manufacturing facilities in Asia, and this is the first of a number of new investments planned by the company for the region.

ICI Paints is the leader in the decorative-paint market in Vietnam, where it employs more than 200 people and operates through five sales offices and four distribution centers. A further 40 employees will be recruited for the new plant, which will produce the current ‘Dulux,' ‘Glidden' and ‘Maxilite' brands.