Mergers and Acquisitions

Chemical Engineering Progress, Oct 2001

FTC Approves Merger of Chevron and Texaco

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved a consent order that will allow Chevron Corp. (San Francisco, CA) and Texaco Inc. (White Plains, NY) to complete their proposed merger. The firms have already obtained approvals from 12 U.S. states, the European Union and several countries where they have major operations. The new company, ChevronTexaco Corp., will have a market value of more than $100 million, assets of $83 billion, net proved reserves of 11.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE), daily production of 2.7 million BOE, and operations throughout the world.

The merger is subject to several conditions, including: Texaco will divest its interests in the downstream joint ventures Motiva Enterprises LLC and Equilon Enterprises LLC, as well as a portion of its general aviation business; Texaco will extend its license of the Texaco brand to Equilon and Motiva; and ChevronTexaco will divest Texaco's interest in the Enterprise Fractionating Plant in Mont Belvieu, TX, and in the Discovery Pipeline System, and Texaco will resign as the pipeline system's operator.

Chevron and Texaco will seek approval of the merger by their stockholders at meetings scheduled for Oct. 9 in Houston.

Paper Producers Pair

The Mead Corp. (Dayton, OH) and Westvaco Corp. (Stamford, CT) are combining. The new firm, which will be called MeadWestvaco Corp., will have $8 billion in annual revenues. An anticipated $325 million in cost synergies are expected to be realized in the areas of coated papers, packaging, purchasing and logistics, and information technology.

Process Industry Business Bought

Merichem Chemical and Refinery Services LLC (Houston, TX) has acquired the assets of USFilter's Gas Technology Products business (Schaumburg, IL), which provides sulfur emission reduction and control systems to the hydrocarbon processing industry.

Environmental Services Firms Combine

ENSR International (Westford, MA) has acquired an interest in RSK Environment (London), and has merged its subsidiary, ENSR UK, into RSK Environment. The new entity will be known as RSK ENSR.