Royal Polymers Seeks Court Declaration That Supply Agreement With Westlake Vinyls, Inc. Is Void
April 07 2006 - 6:40PM
PR Newswire (US)
TORONTO, April 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Royal Group Technologies
Limited (RYG-TSX; NYSE) Royal Polymers Limited, an affiliate of
Royal Group Technologies Limited today announced that on March 30,
2006 it served Houston, Texas based Westlake Vinyls, Inc., a
division of Westlake Chemical Corp. (collectively "Westlake")
(WLK-NYSE), with a Notice of Application ("Application) filed in
the Superior Court of Justice, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Royal owns
and operates a polyvinyl chloride ("PVC") facility in Sarnia,
Ontario and uses vinyl chloride monomer ("VCM") as its principal
raw material in the production of PVC resin. Royal and Westlake
entered into a long term VCM supply agreement in 2004. An essential
term of that agreement was a pricing mechanism that was linked to
the data published in an industry trade magazine. On January 1,
2006, the industry trade magazine ceased publishing the pricing
information. Royal and Westlake have made efforts to renegotiate a
new pricing mechanism but have been unable to agree on a mutually
acceptable method. Royal's Application seeks a court order
declaring that the 2004 agreement is void and unenforceable since
it lacks an essential term - pricing. Royal continues to need VCM
and requires clarity over the validity of the agreement to allow it
to negotiate with other manufacturers to supply it with VCM at
competitive pricing. On April 6, 2006, Westlake filed its own
Application seeking: a determination that the supply agreement is
valid; an interim order requiring Royal to pay any shortfall
payments into Court; and a request that Westlake's Application be
heard together with Royal's. Royal's Application will be heard on
June 29, 2006. Both parties are requesting that this matter be
transferred to the Commercial List which may result in an earlier
hearing date. Royal Group Technologies is a leading producer of
innovative, attractive, durable and low-maintenance home
improvement and building products, which are primarily utilized in
both the renovation and new construction sectors of the North
American construction industry. Royal Group is the recipient of
several industry awards for product innovation. The company has
manufacturing operations located throughout North America in order
to provide industry-leading service to its extensive customer
network. Additional investment information is available on Royal
Group's web site at http://www.royalgrouptech.com/ under the
"Investor Relations" section. The information in this document
contains certain forward-looking statements with respect to Royal
Group Technologies Limited, its subsidiaries and affiliates. These
statements are often, but not always made through the use of words
or phrases such as "expect", "should continue", "continue",
"believe", "anticipate", "suggest", "estimate", "contemplate",
"target", "plan", "budget", "may", "will", "schedule" and "intend"
or similar formulations. By their nature, these forward-looking
statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and
assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are
inherently subject to significant, known and unknown, business,
economic, competitive and other risks, uncertainties and other
factors affecting Royal specifically or its industry generally that
could cause actual performance, achievements and financial results
to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking
statements. These risks and uncertainties include the ongoing
shareholder value maximization process and its outcome; the ongoing
internal review and investigations by the Audit Committee of the
Board of Directors and its outcome; the negative impact that may be
caused by the delay in filing of Royal Group's 2005 financial
statements, including, without limitation, a breach by Royal Group
of its banking agreement, an adverse effect on Royal Group's
business and the market price of its publicly traded securities,
and a breach by Royal Group of the continued listing requirements
of the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange;
fluctuations in the level of renovation, remodelling and
construction activity; changes in product costs and pricing; an
inability to achieve or delays in achieving savings related to the
cost reductions or increases in revenues related to sales price
increases; the sufficiency of our restructuring activities,
including the potential for higher actual costs to be incurred in
connection with restructuring activities compared to the estimated
costs of such actions; the ability to recruit and retain qualified
employees; the level of outstanding debt and our current debt
ratings; Royal's ability to maintain adequate liquidity and
refinance its debt structure by December 31, 2006, the expiry date
of its current bank credit facility; the ability to meet the
financial covenants in our credit facilities; changes in product
mix; the growth rate of the markets into which Royal's products are
sold; market acceptance and demand for Royal's products; changes in
availability or prices for raw materials; pricing pressures
resulting from competition; difficulty in developing and
introducing new products; failure to penetrate new markets
effectively; the effect on foreign operations of currency
fluctuations, tariffs, nationalization, exchange controls,
limitations on foreign investment in local business and other
political, economic and regulatory risks; difficulty in preserving
proprietary technology; adverse resolution of any litigation,
investigations, administrative and regulatory matters, intellectual
property disputes, or similar matters; changes in securities or
environmental laws, rules and regulations; currency risk exposure
and other risks described from time to time in publicly filed
disclosure documents and securities commission reports of Royal
Group Technologies Limited and its subsidiaries and affiliates. In
view of these uncertainties we caution readers not to place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements. Statements made in
this document are made as of April 7, 2006 and Royal disclaims any
intention or obligation to update or revise any statements made
herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise. DATASOURCE: Royal Group Technologies Limited CONTACT:
Mark Badger, Vice President of Marketing and Corporate
Communications, Royal Group Technologies Limited, Phone: (905)
264-0701
Copyright