International Fibres Group (IFG) continues to further implement its long-term business strategy, by making a strategic investment into the high performance fiber segment. Investments are being made in both production and product development capabilities in the group.

The production capability, which will be customized for IFG by one of the leading machine suppliers, will be in the site of Asota in Linz, Austria, and the high performance fiber product range of IFG will be available for the market the second half of 2015. The company says this strategic move into high performance fibers, and the investment in state-of-the-art machinery at Asota, gives it the possibility to further strengthen its market position and to remain at the front-end of R&D in polypropylene staple fiber. IFG will through this investment continue to increase its extensive production and R&D capability for automotive, technical and industrial applications as well as advanced geotextiles.

IFG is a leading independent merchant producer of polypropylene staple fibers for the automotive sector, geotextiles, floorcoverings, industrial and textile applications. IFG has four operating entities worldwide, three in the European division—Asota GmbH, Drake Extrusion Ltd. and Exelto NV—and one in the U.S. division—Drake Extrusion Inc.