Ineos Technologies’ (Rolle, Switzerland; www.ineos.com) Ineos Americas LLC has announced that it has acquired the aromatics business of Axiall Corp. (Atlanta, Ga.; www.axiall.com). $52.4 million was paid at closing and an additional $10.5 million may be payable after closing upon satisfaction of certain conditions.
The acquisition comprises the cumene plant based in Pasadena, Tex., which produces 900,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of product. In addition the phenol, acetone and alpha-methylstyrene business will transfer to the Ineos Phenol facility in Mobile, Ala.
The addition of Axiall’s Aromatics business and cumene assets provides a close fit with the portfolio and expertise of Ineos Phenol.
“We are very pleased to have completed this acquisition. Bringing together the cumene plant with our own facilities and the transfer of the phenol and acetone business to our unit in Mobile presents an excellent opportunity to further improve our competitiveness,”said Hans Casier, CEO of INEOS Phenol. “These are good quality, well placed assets, complemented by a very experienced operations team and high safety, health and environmental standards.”
“As we refine our portfolio, we are pleased to have reached an agreement to sell our aromatics business to INEOS,” said Axiall Interim president and CEO Tim Mann. “This is our second divestiture of non-core assets in 2015, following the February sale of our phosgene business, which allows us to better focus on our core chloro-vinyls, derivatives and specialties businesses.”