US producer Axiall rejects unsolicited takeover bid by Westlake Chemical

Axiall Corp. today confirmed that it has rejected an unsolicited and conditional proposal from Westlake Chemical to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of the company.

The proposed acquisition was for a consideration of $20.00/share in the form of $11.00 in cash and 0.1967 shares of Westlake stock. News reports valued the total proposed deal at $1.4 billion.

Axiall noted that Westlake’s proposal was delivered on Monday, Jan. 25, four days before Westlake’s decision to publicly release the proposal. 

The Axiall board of directors, with the assistance of its financial and legal advisors, reviewed, considered and unanimously rejected the proposal within the timeframe requested by Westlake.

“We believe that Westlake’s proposal is an opportunistic attempt to take advantage of challenging public equity market conditions and significantly undervalues Axiall’s assets and its long-term prospects,” said Timothy Mann, Axiall's CEO. “The price of Axiall stock was at $20.18 as recently as Dec. 1, 2015. 

"We remain committed to achieving our $100 million run rate cost reduction and productivity target by the end of 2016, as well as our investment in the LACC ethane cracker project with our joint venture partner Lotte Chemical," he added. "In addition, we are continuing to evaluate our entire portfolio of businesses and assets to identify opportunities to enhance shareholder value, including our sales process for the building products business.”

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is acting as financial advisor to Axiall, and Jones Day is acting as legal counsel.