LONDON -- (BUSINESS WIRE) --
The Valence Group has successfully advised Tessenderlo Group (NYSE Euronext: TESB) on its sale of the PVC and Chlor-Alkali activities to INEOS subsidiary Kerling.
Kerling, through its INEOS ChlorVinyls business, will purchase Tessenderlo Group's PVC activities, including VCM, Chlor-Alkali and part of Organic Chlorine Derivatives. Besides the major plant at Tessenderlo in Belgium, the production plants in France (Mazingarbe) and the Netherlands (Beek and Maastricht) are involved. These businesses employ about 850 people. This transaction is subject to European merger control approval.
The purchase price is 110 million Euros on a cash-free, debt-free basis.
Frank Coenen, CEO of Tessenderlo Group, emphasised that INEOSChlorVinyls will be an excellent owner of these activities: "In light of our announced strategy - focusing on specialities - we looked for a long time for the right home for these businesses. Our well-invested assets together with our highly competent workforce are both strengths that were recognized by INEOSChlorVinyls. As a European leader, INEOSChlorVinyls is well placed to offer these businesses the best possible growth opportunities."
Peter Hall, Partner at The Valence Group, commented: "We have worked very closely with Tessenderlo to help them find and execute an exit from a challenging business in a sector where exit opportunities are limited. The fact that we not only found a solution, but that the business to be divested is transferring to such a good owner with an outstanding management team and a clear commitment to the PVC sector, reflects our unique position as the world's leading specialist investment bank to the chemicals, materials and related sectors. We are pleased to have been able to deliver to a key client the benefits of our unique combination of skill sets and experience in chemicals M&A - financial, strategic and industrial. Divestitures such as these, in challenging sub-sectors, require specialist advice grounded on years of collective experience and insight."
Ariel Levin, Partner at The Valence Group, said: "We are very excited to be continuing our advisory work with the Tessenderlo team and represent them on this second disposal so far in 2011. This move will likely prove to be the pivotal step in Tessenderlo's strategic transformation into a specialty chemical company. Intra-European consolidation within the PVC sector has had many false starts and we believe this could be a turning point in that process. The PVC sector is a challenging one and the commercial, strategic and transactional issues are very specific to the sector - we are delighted to have once again brought our sector expertise to bear on this transaction."
About the Tessenderlo Group
Tessenderlo Group is an international chemicals company with over 100 locations worldwide. More than 8,000 people work for the group. The group is a world and European leader in most of its product areas with a consolidated revenue totaling 2.4 billion EUR in 2010. Tessenderlo Chemie NV is listed on Eurolist by Euronext Brussels and is part of Next 150 and BEL Mid indices. Financial News wires: Bloomberg: TESB BB - Reuters: TesBt.BR - Datastream: B:Tes
About The Valence Group
The Valence Group is a specialist M&A investment bank offering advisory services exclusively to companies and investors in the chemicals, materials and related sectors. The founders and senior members of The Valence Group have more than 250 years of collective transaction experience and have closed M&A transactions in over 100 different chemicals/materials subsectors. The Valence Group team includes a unique combination of professionals with backgrounds in investment banking, strategic consulting and senior management within the chemicals and materials industries. The firm's offices are located in London, New York and Shanghai.
CONTACT:
The Valence Group
Chief Administrative Officer
Paul Lakind, +1.212.847.7339
plakind@valencegroup.com