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ZURICH: Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (Sabic) bought a 25 percent stake in Clariant, ending the Swiss speciality chemical group’s fight with activist investors but raising further questions about its future.
US activists David Winter, David Millstone and hedge fund investor Keith Meister on Thursday announced they had unloaded their stake to Sabic, a surprise given their previous insistence they were long-term Clariant investors.
Sabic, the world’s number four chemical firm, said it had no current plans to launch a full takeover of Clariant. However, the move stoked uncertainty about Clariant as ��������Ƶ seeks to diversify its economy and reduce its reliance on oil.
“The story likely isn’t over,” Bank Vontobel analysts said in a note to investors. “This step makes strategic sense for Sabic.”
Sabic is 70 percent owned by ��������Ƶ’s sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund.
The activists last year blocked Clariant’s $20 billion merger with US peer Huntsman, saying it undervalued the Swiss company and did not make strategic sense.
The Swiss had also snubbed their demands for an independent strategic review and three seats on its board.
Clariant shares had risen by nearly a third since their then 7.2 percent investment became public in July. The stock slid more than 9 percent in European trading.
Sabic did not say how much it paid, but the stake is worth around $2.4 billion based on market capitalization.
Middle Eastern energy players have been eager to expand into more advanced downstream chemicals operations like the catalysts that Clariant produces to help speed up processes at chemicals plants.
State oil company Saudi Aramco in 2015 bought half the synthetic rubber business of Germany’s Lanxess for around €1.2 billion.
“Clariant AG is complementary to Sabic’s existing specialties business and is well in line with Sabic’s strategy of opening up new growth opportunities in specialty chemicals,” Sabic CEO Yousef Al-Benyan said in a statement.
Al-Benyan had told Reuters in November that the chemicals maker planned to spend $3-10 billion on acquisitions and was looking at two producers of speciality plastics with operations in Europe, the Middle East and China.
Some analysts do not expect SABIC to stop now. It could seek to convince the second-biggest shareholder group, a family linked to Germany’s Sued-Chemie that Clariant bought in 2011, to sell out.
“Sabic is not known to be satisfied with minority stakes,” said Baader Helvea analyst Markus Mayer. “As a consequence, I think they’ll try to get the Sued-Chemie families’ 14 percent holding and then make an offer for the rest.”