Braskem Acquires Sunoco Chemicals in the United States
Braskem S.A., the leading resin producer in the Americas announced that it has signed an agreement with Sunoco, Inc. ("Sunoco"), an U.S.-based oil company, for the acquisition by Braskem of the polypropylene (PP) business of Sunoco Chemicals, Inc. ("Sunoco Chemicals"). Sunoco will receive US$350 million for the shares in Sunoco Chemicals (only PP assets), upon closing, within 60 days. This transaction represents an important step in Braskem's international expansion process.
Sunoco Chemicals has annual production capacity of 950,000 tons of polypropylene. The company headquarters is located in Philadelphia, PA, and Sunoco Chemicals has three plants located at La Porte, TX, Marcus Hook, PA, and Neal, WV, which account for approximately 13% of installed U.S. polypropylene production capacity.
"The acquisition of Sunoco Chemicals provides Braskem with a solid and competitive platform for growth in the world's biggest market, which will complement its ongoing internationalization strategy through important greenfield projects under development in Mexico, Venezuela and Peru," said Braskem's CEO Bernardo Gradin.
In addition to Sunoco's industrial units, the acquisition also includes a technology and development center in Pittsburgh, PA, which will play an essential role for Braskem in continuing to provide support for clients in product and market development and technical assistance services.
Braskem expects to leverage this industrial and commercial base to complete potential acquisitions or strategic alliances in the future and expand its presence in the U.S. market and its leadership role as the largest resin producer in the Americas, aiming to achieve its objective to become one of the 5 largest petrochemical companies worldwide.
In this acquisition, Braskem had 2 financial advisors: JP Morgan and Blackstone.
Braskem is a Brazilian petrochemical company and is the leader in the Latin American market for thermoplastic resins since it was founded in August 2002, when Odebrecht and Mariani integrated their petrochemical assets with Copene Petroquímica do Nordeste S.A., the former center for petrochemical raw materials in Camaçari, Bahia, which they had controlled since 2001. The two groups joined their petrochemical companies creating Braskem, the first integrated petrochemical company in the country, combining first and second generation operations of the plastic production chain into a single company.
Published 02/02/2010
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