S.KOREA'S HONAM PETROCHEMICAL TO ACQUIRE MALAYSIA INDUSTRY FIRM
SEOUL, Jul 16, 2010 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) --
(C) 2010 Asia Pulse Pte Ltd
South Korea's Honam
Petrochemical Corp. (KSE:011170) said Friday it will buy a 100
per cent stake in Titan Chemicals Corp. Bhd. (KLSE:TITAN), a
Malaysian petrochemical company, for 1.5 trillion won (US$1.3
billion).
The South Korean company said it will acquire a 73 per cent
stake from the Malaysian company's two major shareholders, Chao
Group and Malaysian sovereign fund Permodalan Nasional Berhad,
and plans to purchase the remainder via a takeover bid.
"We can raise the money by ourselves as we have 1.3 trillion
won in cash and our operating profit has been on the rise," a
company official said. "To keep our cash flow strong, we may
consider issuing bonds."
The company said Titan Chemicals posted $1.64 billion in
sales last year, and predicted the takeover will help it record
12 trillion won in consolidated sales this year, which include
sales from overseas units.
Honam Pertrochemical, a unit of South Korea's retail giant
Lotte Group, said it will have annual production capacities of
2.47 million tonnes of ethylene, 1.8 million tonnes of
polyethylene and 1.38 million tonnes of polypropylene by
acquiring the Malaysian petrochemical firm.
Shares of Honam Petrochemical jumped 8.75 per cent to close
at 161,500 won on the Seoul bourse.
(Yonhap) rb
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