OQ Chemicals was created in 2007 from a joint venture between the former Degussa and Celanese and other parts of the Celanese Group.
Frankfurt, Dusseldorf According to financial sources, the German chemical company OQ Chemicals is about to be sold for a billion euros. Oman’s state oil company, as the owner, intends to send out information brochures about the subsidiary in the coming days. Oman Oil Company hopes to be valued at more than €2.5 billion in a sale, according to several people familiar with the transaction.
With 1,400 employees, OQ Chemicals is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of so-called oxo chemicals, which are used for coatings, lubricants, cosmetic and pharmaceutical products as well as flavorings and fragrances. According to its own statements, the group has annual sales of 1.4 billion euros and is based in Monheim in the Rhineland. However, the most important production site is Ruhrchemie in Oberhausen with 1,000 employees.
In financial circles, investors such as Apollo, Bain, Cinven, Lone Star, Platinum and SK Capital in particular are traded as possible bidders for the chemical company. A buyer could seize the opportunity to form a major global player in oxo-chemistry. The OQ rival Perstorp from Sweden is also for sale, Goldman Sachs has organized an auction. However, this process is already in the final phase, according to financial circles, a deal is imminent, also at a valuation of around 2.5 billion euros. There is speculation in the industry that a buyer could merge the two companies. However, this would have to be approved by the competition authorities.
OQ Chemicals was created in 2007 from a joint venture between the former Degussa and Celanese and other parts of the Celanese Group. Among them was also Ruhrchemie. The German chemist Otto Roelen discovered the now world-famous oxo process at the Oberhausen entrepreneur, with which petrochemical substances such as ethylene and propylene are converted.
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The buyer was the private equity firm Advent in 2007. In 2013, the investor passed the company on to Oman’s state oil company, which wanted to use it to develop from a pure oil producer into a petrochemical company.
However, Oman Oil’s efforts to combine its upstream business (oil production) with its downstream business (processing of the raw material) did not produce the desired results. Recently, given the high oil prices, revenues from the sale of commodities have increased, which is why diversification was considered less urgent. The Sultanate is therefore putting the German subsidiary up for sale again.
OQ and Perstorp would fit together strategically
A deal could value OQ Chemicals at around 10 times its expected 2022 operating profit of just over €250 million, people familiar with the deal said. JP Morgan organize the sales process.
Private equity firms have experience strengthening and rebuilding portfolio companies and later selling them at a profit. The companies are often reinforced with further acquisitions in order to form globally more powerful units. OQ and Sweden’s Perstorp would be a strategic fit, both have a strong focus on the coating chemicals market, industry sources said.
The Swedes are represented in Germany with a large location in Arnsberg, Sauerland. Perstorp is currently owned by the financial investor PAI. Last year, the company posted an Ebitda of 235 million euros. The companies, their owners and advisors declined to comment or were initially unavailable.
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