Sector News

Lotte Chemical to sell 25% stake in Lotte Chemical Indonesia for $449M

March 9, 2025
Energy & Chemical Value Chain

Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Bhd. (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), an affiliate of Lotte Chemical Corp. (Seoul, South Korea), has received an offer from a securities company and five special-purpose corporations set up by five securities companies to acquire Lotte Chemical Corp.’s 25% stake in Lotte Chemical Indonesia (LCI) for 650 billion South Korean won ($449.4 million). The identities of the buyers were not disclosed.

Following the sale of shares, Lotte Chemical Corp.’s ownership in LCI will be reduced from 49% to 24%. Lotte Chemical intends to use funds to improve its financial structure by repaying debt.

LCI was established in 2016. It plans to start up a new naphtha cracker and related benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX) plant at Cilegon, Indonesia, in May, a company source earlier told S&P Global Commodity Insights on Feb. 24.

The cracker will have capacity for 1 million metric tons per year of ethylene, 520,000 metric tons per year of propylene and 140,000 metric tons per year of butadiene.

“Benzene nameplate is 150,000 metric tons per year, toluene 50,000 metric tons per year and C8+ at 30,000 metric tons per year for [the BTX unit],” another company source earlier said to Commodity Insights.

The company has been selling its ownership in overseas subsidiaries to bolster its liquidity and plans to raise 1.4 trillion won.

Lotte Chemical last February sold its entire 75.01% stake in Lotte Chemical Pakistan Ltd. (LCPL) to AsiaPak Investments (Islamabad) and to Montage Oil (Dubai, United Arab Emirates), a commodity trading and logistics firm. LCPL has 500,000 metric tons per year of purified terephthalic acid capacity at Port Qasim.

In October of last year, Lotte Chemical signed a price-earning swap worth 660 billion won by selling its 40% stake in Lotte Chemical Louisiana LLC (LCLA). According to data from Commodity Insights, LCLA produces ethylene glycol with a capacity of 700,000 metric tons per year.

The company recently announced its decision to liquidate its joint venture Lotte Ube Synthetic Rubber Bhd. (LUSR; Pasir Gudang, Malaysia). LUSR was established in 2012 by Lotte Chemical and Ube Elastomer Co. as a 50/50 JV, and it produces polybutadiene rubber with a capacity of 72,000 metric tons per year.

Lotte Chemical last July announced plans to transform its portfolio by the end of the decade, de-emphasizing basic petrochemicals and increasing its focus on specialty chemicals.

by Kartik Kohli

Source: chemweek.com

comments closed

Related News

March 9, 2025

OMV and ADNOC to create USD 60+ bn global polyolefins champion

Energy & Chemical Value Chain

Signed agreement foresees strategic combination of Borealis and Borouge under the newly created company Borouge Group International, set to become world’s fourth largest polyolefins company. OMV and ADNOC with equal shareholdings of 46.94% each and equal partnership in Borouge Group International following cash injection of EUR 1.6 bn.

March 9, 2025

WE Soda buys soda ash producer Genesis Alkali

Energy & Chemical Value Chain

WE Soda has acquired Genesis Alkali (Alkali), the largest US-based producer of natural soda ash, from Genesis Energy in an all-cash transaction for $1.425 billion. According to WE Soda, the acquisition establishes it as the largest global producer of soda ash, increasing the company’s total production capacity to approximately 9.5 million metric tons per year (mtpa).

March 1, 2025

European Commission proposes mobilising 100 billion euros for EU-made clean tech

Energy & Chemical Value Chain

The European Commission on Wednesday proposed making available 100 billion euros ($104.94 billion) to support EU-made clean manufacturing as part its landmark Clean Industrial Deal. The deal is a key pillar of its competitiveness plan, designed to support energy-intensive industries facing high costs and heavy bureaucracy as they challenge for market share with global rivals.

How can we help you?

We're easy to reach