Gulf Oil has won the bidding war for Houghton International, while Saudi Aramaco has finally decided the contract for its Yanbu refinery project.
Gulf Oil Corp has agreed a deal of $1.05 billion to buy US-based specialty chemical and lubricant company Houghton International from the private equity firm AEA Investors, despite other bidders apparently interested in the metalworking fluids specialist.
Controlled by the billionaire Hinduja brothers, Gulf Oil manufactures lubricant products for the automotive, industrial and agricultural sectors. Gulf will take advantage of Houghton’s strong presence in the United States, Europe and Asia to expand its lubricants operations mainly in the industrial and automotive sectors. However, Houghton will still be run as a separate business in Houston according to its new owners.
Meanwhile, Samsung Engineering has beaten stiff competition from Italian, Spanish suitors and another South Korean company to win a deal to expand the capacity at the Luberef oil lubricants refinery in Yanbu.
The refinery is 70% owned by Saudi Aramco and 30% by Saudi Jadwa Industrial Investment. The planned expansion will double the current 280,000 ton annual capacity of the refinery, with commercial output slated to start in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Details of the bid’s financial terms were not available, but the whole project is likely to cost $1 billion. Sources say that the deal will include another package for propane de-asphalting (PDA).
Samsung won the bid ahead local rivals Hyundai Engineering, as well as Tecnicas Reunidas from Spain and Italy's Siapem.