OMV In Talks to Buy $4.7 Billion Borealis Stake from Mubadala - Bloomberg

OMV In Talks to Buy $4.7 Billion Borealis Stake from Mubadala - Bloomberg:

Austria’s OMV AG is in talks to buy a $4.68 billion stake in Borealis AG in a potentially record-breaking acquisition that would shift the state-controlled energy company’s focus to petrochemicals.

OMV may buy a 39% stake in its Vienna-based affiliate from Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Corp., it said in a statement late Friday. That would increase OMV’s stake in Borealis to 75%, Mubadala would maintain a 25% stake in Borealis. It also owns a quarter of OMV.

“The potential transaction would expand the value chain of OMV in the petrochemical sector and would allow OMV to fully consolidate the resultss,” OMV said. The supervisory board has yet to discuss the transaction and will make a decision as soon as possible, it said.

The move follows years of effort by OMV to gain scale in oil and gas production. Chief Executive Officer Rainer Seele has said in the past he wanted to focus on petrochemicals in the Middle East and Asia, where consumer demand is growing for everything from packaging to mobility.