Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團), Taiwan’s biggest diversified industrial company, would be interested in buying BP PLC assets if approached by the oil producer, an executive said.
“We’re interested,” Lee Chih-tsuen (李志村), a member of the group’s executive board, said in a telephone interview yesterday. “Anything is possible; it’s an issue for us what the price is.”
The two companies haven’t had any contact on possible asset sales, he said.
BP, which is battling the worst US oil spill in history, agreed to sell assets in North America and Egypt to Apache Corp for US$7 billion as part of a plan to raise cash to fund liabilities.
Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (台灣化纖), a member of the Formosa Plastics Group, has a joint venture with BP in Taiwan. It makes acetic acid used in the production of purified terephthalic acid, a raw material used for plastic bottles and polyester fibers.
“We don’t know if BP is interested in selling the stake, so it may be too early to talk about it,” Lee said.
BP also has a Taiwan joint venture with CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油). CAPCO Co (中美和石化), 37.5 percent owned by CPC, produces purified terephthalic acid.
FPG controls Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), the nation’s only publicly traded oil refiner.
Also See: BP to sell properties to Apache Corp
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