NPRA '08: SABIC favourite for BASF styrenics buy

31 March 2008 14:46 [Source: ICIS news]

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SAN ANTONIO, Texas (ICIS news)--SABIC is the most likely candidate to acquire BASF’s global styrenics business, two European styrene players said on Monday.

Industry sources had originally favoured Basell for the purchase of BASF's $2.1bn (€1.3bn) business, but opinion now appears to have shifted.

“I think it’s going to be SABIC [Saudi Basic Industries Corp]. I can’t see the fit for (the newly merged) LyondellBasell now. I can’t see what it’ll bring to LyondellBasell,” said one key industry figure on the sidelines of the 33rd National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA) meeting.

“SABIC is the biggest polymer producer in the world, and the only one with both polymers and polycarbonate after the acquisition of GE. To add BASF’s styrenics would be a good fit,” said another styrene player in the same conversation.

“It won’t be [India's] Reliance, and it would make INEOS NOVA too big,” he added.

“And I don’t see a Chinese company doing it. They are too China-centric,” he said.

Industry insiders had earlier been heard to say that they thought any announcement of the completion of the sale was “not close”.

In a separate conversation at the NPRA meeting, one producer source remarked that “the longer it takes, the more difficult it gets”.

There were suggestions that other parties were interested in the acquisition, but that they were blocked because of the ongoing negotiations with the preferred partner.

($1 = €0.63)

By: Barbara Ortner
+44 20 8652 3214

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