Dow intends to sell German chemical park infrastructure

Recently, according to people familiar with the matter, US chemical manufacturer Dow Inc. sold German infrastructure assets for a potential 800 million euros (96 million US dollars). The reason for this is that the company is seeking cash to invest elsewhere. Dow CEO James Fitterling said last month that Dow will continue to divest its infrastructure companies and use the proceeds from the sale for capital expenditures, smaller acquisitions or stock buybacks.

Dow Chemical will sell the infrastructure of its petrochemical plants in Stade in Schkopau and Boehlen, but it will continue to produce plastics and intermediates there and pay royalties to the new owners. Dow is the main user of the three chemical parks, but it is not the only operator.

Chemical parks usually provide infrastructure such as electricity, steam, natural gas and other services for settled producers.

A Dow spokesperson said: "Dow has informed German employees that it is exploring opportunities related to certain site infrastructure assets and services at its Stade, Schkopau and Boehlen sites, but has not yet made a final decision."

Sources said that Dow has sent information to bidders, including KKR, Blackstone, BlackRock, Brookfield Asset Management, Macquarie, First Sentier and DIF Capital Partners. The source also said that bidders' valuation of infrastructure assets may be 12 to 13 times the core profit.