MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oman Oil Co. agreed to buy Oxea from Advent International to expand beyond refining into chemicals and ingredients for manufacturing and consumer goods, said Bloomberg.
The state-owned oil producer will use the purchase of Oxea as a springboard for tapping demand for oxo-based chemicals, the companies said today. Oxea, formed from units of Celanese Corp. and the predecessor of Evonik Industries AG , generated about EUR1.5 billion (USD2.03 billion) in sales in 2012. Oman Oil paid almost EUR1.8 billion , according to three people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the negotiations were private.
The deal with Oman Oil "will provide additional access to growth markets in Asia and the Middle East," Martina Floel, managing director of Oxea, said in the statement.
Under Advent’s leadership, Oberhausen, Germany-based Oxea diversified its products to add higher-margin derivatives, and capacity is now 1.3 million tons a year. After a push into Asian markets, Oxea’s polyols are used in cosmetics and lubricants, and its amines are used in rubber chemicals and dyes.
The company is building a new derivatives plant in Nanjing to serve fast-growing markets for films and safety glass laminates in Asia, including China.
As MRC wrote before, Oman Oil Company, the energy investment arm of the Oman government, announced plans to build an USD800m (OMR 308m) petrochemicals plant in Sohar and one of the largest crude storage facilities in the world at Ras Markaz in Duqm. The petrochemicals plant will produce purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and polyethylene terephtalate (PET).
Oman Oil will give Oxea the option to draw on the country’s petrochemical base and source cheaper supplies of its main raw material polyproplene from its parent. It will also provide the technology and management experience to further expand operations, which compete with companies such as BASF SE.
Oxea is the largest supplier in the merchant oxo chemicals market, and No. 2 in capacity after Ludwigshafen, Germany-based BASF.
MRC