Brazil’s Braskem confirms takeover bid from Adnoc

Reuters/Amanda Perobelli

• Bid is 79% premium over petrochemicals firm’s closing price
• Braskem’s shareholders are Novonor and state oil giant Petrobas
• Adnoc is looking to expand its interests overseas

Braskem confirmed on Tuesday that its controlling shareholder Novonor received a takeover offer from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Apollo Global Management.

The Brazilian petrochemicals producer had previously said that a non-binding bid of 37.5 billion reais ($7.5 billion) had been presented to Novonor but did not say where the offer had come from. 

In a securities filing yesterday, Braskem disclosed that the bid from Adnoc and US asset manager Apollo amounted to 47.00 reais ($9.39) per share of Braskem.

With 20 reais to be paid in cash and 20 through perpetual (irredeemable) bonds at an annual rate of 4 percent, the other 7 reais per share would be paid via warrants, the filing said. 

• Adnoc ‘in talks’ to buy Brazilian petro firm Braskem
• Adnoc to float 15% of its maritime logistics subsidiary

The bid represents a 79 percent premium over Braskem’s closing price of 26.28 reais per share on Tuesday, according to Reuters, but a premium of more than 140 percent when compared to Braskem’s closing share price on May 4 last week, just before media reported on the Adnoc-Apollo bid. 

Novonor shares control of Braskem with Brazilian state oil giant Petrobas. Braskem noted in its filing that discussions were ongoing on the acquisition offer and that talks with Petrobas would be required before any deal could be struck. 

UAE state-owned oil giant Adnoc is looking to expand its operations and interests overseas. It set up a dedicated business unit for this purpose in January .

Adnoc declined to comment on the proposed deal.