Canadian Plastics

Chevron Phillips offers $15 billion for Nova Chemicals, report says

Canadian Plastics   

Materials

The Reuters news agency reports that Chevron Phillips, based in the Woodlands, Texas, was bidding more than $15 billion for Calgary-based Nova.

Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. is offering more than US$15 billion in a bid to acquire Calgary-based Nova Chemicals Corp., a June 21 news report from Reuters says.

Headquartered in the Woodlands, Texas, Chevron Phillips is a joint venture between Chevron and Phillips 66; Nova, meanwhile, is owned by United Arab Emirate-based Mubadala Investment Co.

Nova’s chemicals plant in Joffre, Alta.
Photo: Nova Chemicals Corp.

The Reuters story quoted unnamed sources who said that Mubadala has been exploring a sale of Nova since early this year. The sources also added that there’s “no certainty” that state-owned Mubadala will accept the Chevron Phillips offer. If it goes through, however, Chevron Phillips would become third largest polyethylene producer in North America, after ExxonMobil Chemical Co. and Dow Chemical Co.

Another bidder for Nova may yet emerge, some of the sources told Reuters. Mubadala could also decide to keep a stake in Nova in a deal, one of the sources added.

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As it is, Chevron Phillips is already one of the world’s largest petrochemical producers, the Reuters report said, and it would gain scale and expand its footprint through the acquisition of Nova, whose expandable polystyrene and resins are used in a range of industries, from construction to packaging,

Founded in 2000, Chevron Phillips has 31 production facilities located in the U.S., Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Belgium. It had total revenue last year of US$12 billion, according to its website.

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