INEOS to acquire Borealis AS petchem business
7 Jun 2007
The acquisition follows the recent announcement made by INEOS Capital, to buy Norsk Hydro ASA’s polymers business and completes its purchase of the Noretyl cracker, a 50:50 joint venture between Norsk Hydro and Borealis AS. INEOS expect to complete the latest deal in the third quarter 2007.
According to INEOS, Borealis AS is a complementary with its existing olefins and polyolefins activities and improve its integration into key feedstocks. This, it said, will help the company to optimise across its existing assets in Grangemouth, Scotland; Antwerp, Lillo and Geel in the Benelux region, Köln and Wilhelmshaven, Germany; and Lavéra, France.
“This acquisition presents important opportunities for us to support existing assets in the North West European ethylene network,” said Jim Ratcliffe chairman of INEOS. “These are well placed assets, complemented by an experienced operations team and high safety, health and environmental standards. Bringing together these two deals is perfectly timed and provides a significant step forward in the development of INEOS.”
INEOS will be acquiring facilities in Rafnes and Bamble, Norway, and staff associated with these operations. The Noretyl ethylene cracker was commissioned in 1977 and has a capacity of 557 ktpa in addition to a propylene capacity of 80 ktpa. It supplies the nearby Bamble site assets, which include polypropylene (PP), low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) plants.
“The sale of our Norwegian polyolefins business is another step to increase the overall competitiveness of our European operations," comments John Taylor, CEO of Borealis. "We wish all our Norwegian colleagues a successful future with INEOS as their new owners.”