La Seda de Barcelona sells subsidiary IQA for €23m

04 June 2010 16:47  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--La Seda de Barcelona has concluded the sale of its chemical subsidiary, Industrias Quimicas Asociadas (IQA), for a total amount of €23m ($28m) to US private group American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC), it said on Friday.

The sale, which included IQA’s Oxyd Ethylene production plant in the petrochemical area of Tarragona, Spain, as well as of Aneriqa, the society owning the cogeneration plant, was part of a wide-ranging restructuring plan, the group added.

La Seda began asking for bids for IQA in November last year, with seven companies showing interest, the Spanish polyethylene terephthalate (PET) producer said.

“Finally we have decided to sell IQA to the US-American industrial corporation AIAC as they have submitted the best bid, but mainly because they have a long term investment policy guaranteeing the future growth and viability of installations and of its employees,” said Jose Morlanes, chairman of La Seda de Barcelona.

AIAC, based in New York, specializes in the acquisition and long term restructuring of industrial companies, La Seda said.

La Seda has been in the process of deploying its restructuring plan, which was sanctioned by the High Court of England and Wales on 26 May, following months of negotiations with creditor banks.

With the approval of a “Scheme of Arrangement”, which allowed La Seda to carry out a debt renegotiation, counting on the support of 75% of its liabilities, instead of 100%, the group said it was culminating the financial restructuring plan with the banks.

Apart from a syndicate loan, which total’s €600m, the group’s financial restructuring process also included an agreement with suppliers and bilateral loans totalling €400m, with a total amount of restructured debt of about €1bn.

Meanwhile, La Seda said it was negotiating the sale of its SIMPE plant in Italy and San Roque plant in Cadiz, Spain. The group expected to finalise both operations before the 31 December 2010, it added.

($1 = €0.82)

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By: Franco Capaldo
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