TIMELINE: Chemical M&As surge in December

22 December 2006 11:38  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--Air Liquide’s €590m ($777m) purchase of Linde’s 45% stake in their Japan Air Gases joint venture was the latest in December's frenzy of mergers and acquisitions as companies rush to secure deals before the New Year.

 

Listed below are some of the major chemical mergers and acquisitions this December as reported on ICIS news.

 

4 December – US private equity firm Apollo completed the $3.8bn acquisition of General Electric’s Advanced Materials (GEAM) business. Apollo is launching it as Momentive Performance Chemicals, focusing on silicones, quartz and ceramics.

 

5 December – Rhodia agreed to sell its European industrial fibres business to private equity firm Butler Capital Partners for an undisclosed sum.

 

7 December – Malaysian palm oil and oleochemical player IOI Group agreed to buy Pan Century Oleochemicals and Pan Century Edible Oils for Malaysian ringgit 423m ($118m).

 

8 December – Private equity firm MidOcean Partners bought an 80% stake in Europackaging, a UK polyethylene packaging producer.

 

13 December – Celanese divested its Oxo Products and Derivatives businesses to Advent International for €480m. As part of the same deal, Advent also took control of European Oxo (EOXO), a joint venture between Celanese and Degussa.

14 December – Johnson Matthey agreed to sell its ceramics division to private equity firm Pamplona Capital Partners for €226m.

14 December – Lanxess acquired Dow Chemical’s half of their leather chemicals joint venture Chrome International South Africa in its first takeover since the Bayer spin-off.

 

14 December – Wilmar International agreed to buy PPB Palm Oil for $2.7bn, creating one of the largest palm oil producers and refiners in Asia.

 

14 December –PKN Orlen completed the purchase of 53.7% of Lithuania’s Mazeikiu Nafta oil refinery from Yukos for litas 3.88bn ($1.48bn). Orlen intends to turn the refinery into an oil and petrochemicals complex.

 

15 December – UK-based investment group 3i completed the purchase of Cognetas’s 56% controlling stake of Italian distributor Azelis for €315m.

 

15 December – US chemicals firm Solutia agreed to buy Akzo Nobel’s 50% stake in Flexsys, their Belgium-based rubber chemicals joint venture.

 

18 December – Norwegian energy majors Hydro and Statoil have agreed to merge their oil and gas activities, creating the world’s largest offshore operator, the companies said.

 

18 December – Dow Chemical said it would buy cellulose firm Wolff Walsrode from Bayer in a deal that would create a $1bn water soluble polymers business.

19 December – Promens completed the acquisition of plastic moulding group Polimoon for Norwegian kroner 1.35bn ($218m).

 

19 December – US-based forest products company International Paper agreed to sell its Arizona Chemical business for $485m to private equity and buyout firm Rhone Capital.

 

20 December – Clorox has agreed to pay $126m to take control of Colgate-Palmolive’s bleach business in Canada and five countries in Latin America.

 

21 December – Malaysian plantation firm Kuala Lumpur Kepong bought Switzerland’s Kolb Group for Swiss francs 135m ($111m). Kolb produces specialty oleochemicals.

 

($1 = €0.76)

By: Mark Watts
+44 20 8652 3214

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