(Yicai Global) Oct. 17 -- US silicones maker Momentive Performance Materials will increase its shareholding in a Chinese joint venture to have a bigger share of the products.

The Chinese partner called Zhejiang Xinan Chemical Industrial Group signed an equity transfer agreement with the US firm's Singaporean unit that will buy 24 percent of Zhejiang Xinan Momentive Performance Materials' stocks, the eastern Chinese parent said in a statement. The New York-based firm will pay nearly USD30 million to lift its stake to 49 percent of the JV.

The parties also agreed to add32,000 tons of silicone monomer productstothe JV's output by 2020. The project's total investment will not exceed USD10 million. The JV had an annual output of 100,000 tons of organic silicon monomer, with another 100,000 tons of silicone monomer added in late 2017, public data shows.

The cooperation will help the company seize and consolidate the downstream silicone monomer market and increase its core competitiveness in the entire industrial chain of the organic silicon materials industry, the Chinese firm said.

Xinan Momentive will sell 49 percent of its total output to the US partner and its affiliates. The rest is reserved for the Chinese parent.

Xinan Chemical Industrial Group will pay Momentive Performance's Singaporean unitno more than USD5 millionfor the new project's licensing fee.

Editor: Emmi Laine