The assets will form part of BP “olefins and derivatives” arm, which will be sold off next year

BP is to buy Solvay’s share in the two BP-Solvay HDPE joint ventures, which will now be terminated early next year. The value of the deal is put at around E800m, the sum for which Solvay sold shares to several banks when it had monetised its option to sell the holding to BP.

The deal clears the way for the HDPE activities to be included in the sell-off of BP’s olefins and derivatives business next year through a US IPO to form a new firm that will be headquartered in Chicago. “HDPE is an important part of our olefins and derivatives business. This deal will help launch our new O&D business on a sound footing,” said Ralph Alexander, chief executive of the new company.

The ventures, launched in 2001, are a 50:50 European joint venture with capacity of 1.56m tpa and a US joint venture, 51% owned by Solvay, with 1m tpa of capacity.