Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Olin Corporation announced the formation of Blue Water Alliance JV, LLP ("BWA") and the commencement of BWA's operations. Mitsui and Olin had agreed to form a strategic alliance to establish the BWA joint venture to provide the optimal and independent solution for procurement, sales, and logistics to serve suppliers and customers in the chlor-alkali industry and to accelerate industrial efforts for decarbonization, subject to receipt of applicable regulatory approvals, which have now been obtained. BWA brings together Olin's scale, North American export capability, extensive global terminal network, and production flexibility across the electrochemical unit (ECU) portfolio with Mitsui's global logistics, long-established supplier and customer relationships, and breadth of product portfolio.

BWA is an entity operating independently from each of Mitsui and Olin and will enable customers to benefit from greater security of supply, enhanced logistics reliability, increased access to global product liquidity, and network optimization to support the decarbonization agenda. Initially, BWA will focus on trading ethylene dichloride (EDC), which is the raw material for polyvinyl chloride, and caustic soda, which is used in a wide variety of industries such as pulp and paper. BWA may expand the range of products it handles in the future to include chlor-alkali derivatives.

BWA will contribute to the effective decarbonization of the industry by globally sourcing chlor-alkali products utilizing competitively-priced renewable energy. Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is advising Mitsui & Co., Ltd. in the formation of the Blue Water Alliance JV, LLP ("BWA") and the commencement of BWA's operations, a joint venture in partnership with Olin Corporation.