MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total, Europe's second-biggest oil company, is preparing for the sale or listing of its rubber and insulation unit Hutchinson, reported Reuters.
The deal could be worth up to EUR4 billion, reuters said.
Total has asked potential advisers to pitch for the business with a mandate to be awarded soon, four sources familiar with the matter said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the matter is private.
Total could either launch an initial public offering (IPO) of the unit or could attract strategic or private equity bidders, said the sources.
According to reuters: "Total is under pressure from shareholders to improve its cash flow and protect dividends as it counts the cost of the collapse in oil prices."
As MRC wrote before, Total is in plans to permanently shut its high density polyethylene (HDPE) line in Belgium. The plant will be shut permanently owing to weak margins which have arisen on account of cheap imports in the region. Located at Antwerp in Belgium, the line has a production capacity of 70,000 mt/year.
Founded in 1853 as shoe manufacturer, Hutchinson today has more than 32,000 employees at 96 sites in 23 countries. Its core businesses are sealing systems, vibration, acoustic and thermal insulation, fluid transfer systems, transmission and mobility. In 1974 the French oil giant Total bought a majority stake in the company.
Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
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