Yantai Wanhua to become minority shareholder in BorsodChem

15 October 2009 13:41  [Source: ICIS news]

PRAGUE (ICIS news)--BorsodChem’s owners and China’s Yantai Wanhua have reached an agreement in principle that allows the latter to become a minority shareholder in BorsodChem, the Hungarian isocyanates and polyinyl chloride (PVC) producer said on Thursday. 

“The term sheet governs the agreed upon midterm role of Yantai Wanhua as a minority shareholder of BorsodChem as well as the agreement to the company’s debt restructuring plan, which is also strongly supported by the senior lenders and the Hungarian government,” said BorsodChem in a statement.

BorsodChem’s majority shareholders are UK-based private equity firm Permira Advisers and Vienna Capital Partners.

Methyl di-p-phenylene (MDI) producer Yantai Wanhua had been blocking the debt restructuring plan while maintaining that it wished to become BorsodChem’s majority owner.

Yantai Wanhua’s agreement to the restructuring plan became necessary in early September, after the Chinese company became a lender to BorsodChem by purchasing more than €100m ($149m) of its mezzanine loans.

The midterm agreement was a very important step for the financial restructuring of BorsodChem, said Wolfgang Buchele, CEO of BorsodChem.

But he stressed that “there is still a long way to go”.

“Several questions remain unresolved for the time being and will be addressed only at a later stage,” he said.

“The delegates agreed on further negotiations in due course to discuss the open questions in a friendly and constructive manner,” added Buchele.

The negotiations took place in Budapest and were attended by Buchele, representatives of Permira and Vienna Capital Partners, and Jiansheng Ding, the chairman of Wanhua Industrial, the China-based holding company that controls Yantai Wanhua.

($1 = €0.67)

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By: Will Conroy
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