Oman Oil buys Oxea Chemicals from Advent

Oman Oil Co (OOC) has announced the acquisition of Oxea Chemicals, the world’s largest supplier of oxo-based chemical products.
This investment will enable Oman Oil to become a vertically integrated global chemical leader. Oman Oil paid almost EUR1.8 billion (USD2.4 billion), Bloomberg reported.
The agreement was signed by H E Nasser al Jashmi, undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil & Gas and chairman of OOC, in the presence of Ronald Ayles, managing director and head of chemicals at Advent International, a leading global private equity firm, and Reinhard Gradl, chairman of the Oxea Group.
Upon receipt of antitrust approvals and satisfaction of other conditions, Advent International will sell its entire equity to OOC, a press release said. Oxea is ranked first in the world as a supplier of oxo chemicals to the merchant market and second as producer of oxo chemicals globally in products like aldehydes, esters and carboxylic acids. Oxea was built from two completely separate businesses, which Advent International had acquired in 2007.
Within less than seven years Advent created a market leader in the oxo segment by contributing comprehensive sector and market know-how. Today, Oxea has operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia and has the broadest portfolio producing more than 70 oxo chemicals for customers in a wide range of industries, such as pharmaceuticals, aromas and scents, paints and lacquers, adhesives, safety glass, lubricants, cosmetics and plastics, with sales of more than 1.3 million tons.
This acquisition is expected to expand OOC’s downstream portfolio by bringing world-class technology and know-how to Oman through existing assets and new investments.
”Oman Oil’s approach is to develop the downstream industry value chain by identifying new opportunities that address the business needs of globalization,” said Jashmi. “There is a unique opportunity to build an integrated chemical platform in Oman from our current investment base. We see our acquisition of Oxea as the corner stone for this platform by bringing its technology and expertise to Oman and connecting it to feedstock from our investments in Duqm’s economic zone. This will also contribute to Oxea’s expansion strategy, especially in the Asian growth markets.”