Joint owners Shell and BASF will consider options including selling their stakes

Shell and BASF are to review the strategic future of Basell, the world’s leading polypropylene maker. Among the options being considered by the joint owners are the sale of their stakes and an equity market transaction. The intention is to carry out the exercise in the first half of next year, keeping the group together as one unit. The two firms have appointed CSFB and Lazard to help them assess the feasibility and attractiveness of the options.

Formed in 2000, Basell combines some of the most powerful portfolios in the polyolefins field covering materials, technology and catalysts. Brand names include Spheripol, Catalloy and Lupolen.

The Netherlands-headquartered group has total global polypropylene capacity of 6.85 million tonnes a year with more than 2.5 million tonnes a year of polyethylene.

Turnover is around E6bn generating a 2003 EBITDA of some E300m; so far this year, results have been running well ahead of last year’s levels. Although the owners welcome Basell’s achievement in establishing itself as a successful group combining its parents’ disparate interests in polyolefins, overall the results have disappointed.