工程塑膠

By SUSAN DAKER

HOUSTON—Dow Chemical Co. reached a $1.63 billion cash deal to sell its Styron plastics business to private-equity firm Bain Capital Partners, as the chemical giant continues to rid itself of debt.

Styron will become a standalone chemicals and plastics company that serves customers in automotive, appliances and packaging industries. The business has 40 manufacturing plants world-wide, about 1,900 employees and reported sales of $3.5 billion last year, Dow said.

As part of the transaction, Dow has the option to take up to a 15% stake in Styron as payment, which could be beneficial if Bain decides to publicly offer Styron. Dow and Styron also signed several long-term supply, service and purchase agreements valued at up to $400 million.

『We are committed to further focusing our portfolio by shedding nonstrategic assets that can no longer compete for growth resources inside the company, and in the process generating funds for further debt reduction and liberating resources for Dow’s higher growth,』 Chairman and Chief Executive Andrew N. Liveris said.

In the past year, Dow has rid itself of billions of dollars in debt taken on to finance its $16.3 billion acquisition of Rohm & Haas in April.

The Midland, Mich.-based company has committed to selling at least $2 billion of assets in 2010. At the end of 2009, the company had $19.5 billion in debt.

Through the acquisition and deleveraging, Dow aims to concentrate on higher margin products while lessening its exposure to the basic chemical sector, which is prone to volatile energy prices and has been hit by a lack of demand in the recession.

The transaction is expected to close by August.

Dow announced its plan to divest Styron in July and estimated it would sell for between $1 billion and $2 billion.

In January, Dow swung to a fourth-quarter profit, with results topping analysts’ estimates, following hefty year-earlier charges as sales rose 15% amid acquisitions.

三菱化學控股計劃收購三菱麗陽株式會社，合併後的公司將成為世界十大化學品製造商之一。

綜合外電11月19日報道，三菱化學控股公司(Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp.)11月19日表示，將通過一份收購要約和股票置換收購三菱麗陽株式會社(Mitsubishi Rayon Co.)，此交易的價值可能超過20億美元。

根據該協議，在通過日本及海外反壟斷機構的審查之後，這家日本最大的化學品製造商將於2010年2月上旬發出一份每股380日圓的收購要約。當在3月底前完成了該要約以及結算之後，如果該公司未能通過收購要約收購三菱麗陽的所有股份，三菱化學將通過股票交換獲取未由三菱麗陽持有的股份。

這項協議顯示出，當中東地區和中國的石化產量上升推高了對即將迎來供應過剩的擔憂之時，日本材料行業公司非常渴望鞏固實力。

合併後的三菱化學麗陽(Mitsubishi Chemical-Rayon)將成為世界十大化學品製造商之一，預算年收入約為3.25萬億日圓，但該公司仍然遠遠落後於該行業的龍頭企業，如德國的巴斯夫公司(BASF)。

以19日午盤收盤價計算，三菱麗陽的市值達到2,046億日圓。近日三菱麗陽的股票大漲，因投資者揣測投標價格將溢價。東京證券交易所已暫停了三菱化學和三菱麗陽兩家公司的股票交易，以使投資者瞭解該合併消息。