Lummus Technology (Houston, Tex.; www.lummustechnology.com) yesterday announced that Haldia Petrochemicals Limited (Kolkata, India; www.haldiapetrochemicals.com), the flagship company of The Chatterjee Group (TCG), and investment funds affiliated with Rhône Capital have successfully completed the joint acquisition of Lummus from McDermott International (Houston, Tex.; www.mcdermott.com). As previously announced, under the terms of the share and asset purchase agreement Chatterjee and Rhône committed to acquiring Lummus for a base purchase price of $2.725 billion from subsidiaries of McDermott as part of McDermott’s restructuring process.
“This new and notable chapter starts with Lummus being a standalone company, as we will be the only major process technology licensor that is independent and privately held,” said Leon de Bruyn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lummus Technology. “For our customers, employees and partners, this is a significant milestone. We will be able to focus exclusively on providing world class technologies and solutions and developing long-term strategies that will allow Lummus to lead and shape the future of our industry.”
Lummus is a leading master licensor of proprietary gas processing, refining, petrochemical, and gasification technologies as well as a supplier of catalysts, equipment and related services. These technologies are critical in the refining of crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and lubes; the manufacturing of petrochemicals and polymers; as well as the gasification of coal into syngas.
Purnendu Chatterjee, Founder Chairman of TCG, added: “Our investments are both strategic and long-term, where most span across 25-30 years. We have primarily focused on knowledge-based companies, and Lummus is a great addition to our portfolio. Leading with innovation, Lummus delivers sustainable value to clients in the area of materials technology. We also see a significant synergy with our existing portfolio companies in the area of digitalization. We, being a long-term client of Lummus, can understand from the customers’ perspective and will now move towards co-creative innovation”
M. Steven Langman, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Rhône, added, “Together with Chatterjee, we identified a unique opportunity to acquire an established, market leading business from McDermott. Rhône has deep experience partnering with management teams of multinational, industry leaders like Lummus and standing up and creating businesses positioned to grow and improve as independent companies. We look forward to working with the Lummus leadership team during its next phase as a standalone business as it initiates strategies to deliver its services and technology to a broader base of customers.”
Under the terms of the purchase agreement, McDermott and Lummus have entered into a strategic agreement to form a mutually beneficial arrangement in which Lummus and McDermott will cooperate to contribute their respective strengths to offer value to mutual customers.