The board of bankrupt LyondellBasell Industries AF rejected a $14.5 billion bid from Reliance Industries Ltd., an oil refiner and explorer controlled by India s richest man, two people briefed on the matter said.
The offer pitted billionaire Mukesh Ambani s Reliance against creditors including Apollo Management LP, a New York- based private-equity firm led by Leon Black, which had backed an earlier reorganization plan that would give them an equity stake in the chemicals maker. Lyondell spokesman David Harpole and Reliance s Manoj Warrier declined to comment.
It doesn t mean this is the end. There s an opportunity to counteroffer, but the upside value for shareholders is rapidly reduced, said Neil Beveridge, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd.
LyondellBasell was an opportunistic move to buy a distressed asset at an attractive price. Bidding higher removes the rationale for doing this. The Rotterdam-based chemicals maker had earlier rejected a revised Reliance bid that valued it at $13.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal said Jan. 8. India s largest company by market value had raised its offer for a controlling stake to $14.5 billion, two people with knowledge of the offer said on Feb. 22. The Mumbai-based company initially offered an undisclosed amount on Nov. 21 and has yet to make public the value of its bid.
The offer pitted billionaire Mukesh Ambani s Reliance against creditors including Apollo Management LP, a New York- based private-equity firm led by Leon Black, which had backed an earlier reorganization plan that would give them an equity stake in the chemicals maker. Lyondell spokesman David Harpole and Reliance s Manoj Warrier declined to comment.
It doesn t mean this is the end. There s an opportunity to counteroffer, but the upside value for shareholders is rapidly reduced, said Neil Beveridge, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd.
LyondellBasell was an opportunistic move to buy a distressed asset at an attractive price. Bidding higher removes the rationale for doing this. The Rotterdam-based chemicals maker had earlier rejected a revised Reliance bid that valued it at $13.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal said Jan. 8. India s largest company by market value had raised its offer for a controlling stake to $14.5 billion, two people with knowledge of the offer said on Feb. 22. The Mumbai-based company initially offered an undisclosed amount on Nov. 21 and has yet to make public the value of its bid.
