Wednesday 4 March 2009

Nova Chemicals stalls layoffs after IPIC’s $500m offer

A Canadian chemicals firm set to be bought by Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) has cancelled 400 layoffs as it looks to the sale to improve its finances.

IPIC offered to buy Nova Chemicals for more than US$500 million (Dh1.83 billion) last week, leading the firm to shelve plans to restructure its plastics operations, a company spokeswoman told Reuters.

“That was all in the context of our previous reality, but in the context of this situation with the IPIC agreement, we’re going to take a new look,” the spokeswoman said.

Nova officials said the takeover by IPIC was the company’s best option in the face of insurmountable debts. But the deal was viewed with suspicion in some circles.

No comments:

Post a Comment