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Seoul. South Korea's Hanwha Chemical will join the first round of bidding for Indonesian chemical producer Sulfindo Adiusaha, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in a potential $700 million deal.

The first-round of bids for Sulfindo are due before the end of this week, with the deal attracting foreign players that bankers said included Thai industrial conglomerate Siam Cement.

"Hanwha will make a non-binding offer," the source told Reuters, declining to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Sulfindo's sale plan comes around the same time Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings is trying to sell its 23 percent stake in Indonesian petrochemicals maker PT Chandra Asri in a deal worth $400 million, two sources with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters.

The sale process is also attracting interest from Asian chemical players, sources said.

A Temasek spokesman declined to comment. A Hanwha spokesman said the chemical firm was still looking into the issue but would not comment further.

In June, Hanwha Chemical's parent Hanwha Group CEO Kim Seung-youn toured Southeast Asia including Indonesia amid group-wide efforts to beef up operations there.

Sulfindo is controlled by the Victoria Group, owned by Indonesia's Tanojo family, who also own small lender Bank Victoria and brokerage Victoria Securities.

The owners of the company are seeking to sell the whole company with a price tag of $700 million.

Macquarie is the sell-side adviser for the deal, three sources told Reuters earlier.

Hanwha produces polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and chloralkali (CA) as does Sulfindo, and is expanding into renewables such as solar.

Reuters