A week ago, the BBC carried a report that PetroChina had completed “preliminary work” on a possible bid to buy a stake in Ineos’ Grangemouth refinery. The BBC quoted Ineos as confirming it was in talks with “a number of parties” over the future of Grangemouth, whilst cautioning that “the discussions with interested parties are […]
Chemicals and the Economy
Kuwait “scraps” K-Dow JV
2008 has not been a good year for M&A in the chemical sector. First, there was the collapse of Hexion’s Huntsman acquisition. Today, the Kuwait government has signalled its intention to “scrap” its $17.4bn deal with Dow to form K-Dow. This is a quite extraordinary decision by a major Middle East government, especially as it […]
Dow, PIC, finalise K-Dow deal
Foresight, and long-term relationships, have paid off for Dow. Yesterday, CEO Andrew Liveris announced that a binding agreement has now been signed with Kuwait’s PIC to form K-Dow Petrochemicals. PIC will pay $2bn less for their stake than originally agreed a year ago. This represents an exceptionally good outcome for Dow, given what has happened […]
Dow buys Rohm & Haas
Dow’s potential interest in Rohm & Haas had been much rumoured since December, when it announced the petchem/polymer JV with Kuwait’s PIC. That deal has yet to close, but further evidence of the growing link with Kuwait comes with the news that the Kuwait Investment Authority will invest $1bn as part of Dow’s financing for […]
Dow integrates upstream via Kuwait deal
Dow has been unique amongst the world’s largest petchem companies in not being integrated upstream into oil and refining. This position will change dramatically at the end of 2008, when its newly-announced JV with the PIC subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum opens for business. Not only will Dow then integrate its ethylene/PE business, but it will […]
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