Sinochem bids again for Incheon refinery

July 13, 2005
China National Chemical Import & Export Co. is again bidding on South Korea's Incheon Oil Refinery Co. Ltd. Other bidders include subsidiaries of Citigroup Venture Capital, Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets Inc., and local refiners SK Corp, GS Caltex, and S-Oil.

Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent

LOS ANGELES, July 13 -- China National Chemical Import & Export Co. (Sinochem) is again bidding on South Korea's Incheon Oil Refinery Co. Ltd. Other bidders include subsidiaries of Citigroup Venture Capital, Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets Inc., and local refiners SK Corp, GS Caltex, and S-Oil.

The renewed auction for Incheon, which is under court receivership, comes 5 months after its creditors, led by Citigroup, rejected as too small a 680 billion won ($5.09 billion) offer from Sinochem for the refiner in January. Creditors reportedly expected at least 750 billion won.

Incheon went into receivership in 2001. Sales at the 270,000 b/d refinery rose 28% to 2.5 trillion won in 2004, while operating profit reached 164.5 billion won.

The court plans to select a preferred bidder for exclusive talks by Aug. 18 and grant 1-month due diligence before closing the deal by September.

Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].