Global Chemical M&A Active in the First Half of the World

In the first half of this year, global chemical mergers and acquisitions witnessed strong growth. The new round of mergers and acquisitions and restructuring of the company aims to further enhance the competitiveness, develop good assets, and optimize the capital structure so as to achieve sustainable development. Since the beginning of the year, cross-border mergers and acquisitions have involved many fields, and more than 70 important cases have been completed. Among them, the acquisition of Chinese companies or shares by multinational corporations has become a hot spot, and the cross-border mergers and acquisitions of Chinese petrochemical companies have also started successfully.

Petrochemical production

Titan Chemicals, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, acquired PTPeni Indonesia in March for US$78 million and became the largest polyolefin producer in Southeast Asia. In early February, Singapore’s national investment company Temasek acquired a 50.45% stake in Indonesian olefins and derivatives manufacturer PTChandraAsri for US$700 million. In early May, BASF acquired LANXESS's styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer business in Europe and South America. Huntsman sold the butadiene business to Texas Petrochemical Company in February for US$275 million.

Rubber and resin fields

Spain’s LaSedade Barcelona completed the acquisition of a 70% stake in Portuguese polyester manufacturer Selenis for 98 million euros in mid-January. Arkema issued a long-fiber thermoplastic business under the brand name Pryltex to German company Fact in March. Solutia purchased its remaining 51% of the Quimica M company in Mexico for $ 19.6 million in early March. Degussa purchased Dow Chemical's super absorbent resin business in June.

Chemical fiber field

Asahi Kasei Fibers merged LANXESS's profitable Dorlastan brand spandex business in January. US SPG acquired 51% of Fibergrass subsidiary of Hercules for $109 million in February. Morgan Crucible, a British company, acquired Cookson’s ceramic fiber business in the United States and Poland in early March for US$21 million. The company also assigned 50% of its Mexico ceramic fiber joint venture to Nutec for US$2 million.

Caustic soda field

Tata Chemicals of India acquired a 63.5% stake in British caustic soda producer Brunner Mond in January for US$112 million, becoming the third largest caustic soda producer in the world, second only to Solvay and FMC, with a production capacity of approximately 3 million tons per year. The company will also acquire the relevant shares of Wayland Investment Company and Barclays Bank of the United Kingdom. BrunnerMond is the second largest producer of caustic soda in Europe after Solvay, with annual sales of 180 million pounds.

Catalyst field

In mid-June, BASF completed the acquisition of shares of ANGE for more than US$5 billion, making it possible for ANGE to become a wholly-owned subsidiary of BASF. In mid-February, Basel's polyolefin company acquired Akzo Nobel's polymerization catalyst business in the United States. Grace also acquired Basel USA's custom catalyst production assets and catalyst components business in early June, expanding its business into the polymer plastics sector.

Coatings

DSM USA sold its display coating business to JSR Japan, and the transaction was completed on April 1. Akzo Nobel acquired Balakom, a Czech paint manufacturer, in early May. The company also acquired the remaining 16.66% of the shares of a Chinese joint venture company in early June. In the future, Akzo Nobel will wholly own its powder coating business in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Fine chemicals

The German RAG company recently merged 42.86% of E.On's shares in Degussa, thereby controlling more than 90% of the shares in Degussa. Huntsman purchased Ciba in February for US$253 million to refine its global textile chemicals business. Mitsui Chemicals AquaPolymer Division acquired the polymer flocculant business of Japan East Asia Synthetic Chemical Co. at the end of February. Hysen, the world's largest manufacturer of thermosetting resins, acquired Rohm and Haas's global wax product business in March.

Engineering Technology

In the beginning of February, Johnson Matthey (JM) of the United Kingdom purchased DVT, a David process technology company, from Yukos International of Russia for US$70.4 million. DPT engages in process development and technology transfer in the natural gas, petroleum, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and polymer industries and has a long-term technical cooperation relationship with JM.

Mergers and mergers of Chinese companies

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company acquired a 51% stake in China Cooper-Chengshan Automotive Tire Company in January. Oman Petroleum purchased a 30% stake in Qingdao Lidong Chemical Company in February. Dow Automotive completed the acquisition of a 49% stake in Wuhan Essex Chemical Co., Ltd. in March. At the same time, China Bluestar Corporation completed its wholly-owned acquisition of France's Adisseo in January. In April, China National Chemical Corporation successfully acquired 100% of the shares of Australia’s largest ethylene producer, Kenos Holdings.