Houlihan Lokey Advises Sumitomo Chemical Co.

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Sumitomo Chemical Co. (Sumitomo Chemical or SCC) has agreed to partially divest approximately 22.5% of its equity interest in Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Co. (Petro Rabigh or PRC) to Saudi Arabian Oil Group (Saudi Aramco) for $702 million. The transaction was announced on August 7, 2024.

Sumitomo Chemical was founded in 1913 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Sumitomo Chemical is a global diversified chemical company that primarily serves the essential chemicals and plastics, energy and functional materials, IT-related chemicals, health and crop sciences, and pharmaceuticals sectors, among others. SCC has a 37.5% equity interest in Petro Rabigh, a Saudi Arabia–based listed company that produces and markets refined petroleum products and petrochemicals.

Petro Rabigh was established in September 2005 as a 50:50 joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical. Petro Rabigh is a refining and petrochemicals company with 400,000 bbl/d of refining capacity, manufacturing primarily polymers, monomers, and refined products. It predominantly supplies clients in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.

Saudi Aramco is the national oil company of Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest companies in the world by revenue and is headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It operates as an integrated energy and chemical company and holds the second-largest hydrocarbon reserves worldwide, with approximately 251 billion barrels of oil.

Sumitomo Chemical and Saudi Aramco entered into a sale and purchase agreement for the divestment of approximately 22.5% equity interest in Petro Rabigh from Sumitomo Chemical for $702 million. Following the completion of the transaction, SCC will maintain a 15% equity interest in PRC. As part of the deal, Sumitomo Chemical will reinject the proceeds of the transaction into PRC, and Saudi Aramco will also contribute the same amount to reduce the leverage of PRC. In addition, both shareholders have agreed to each write-off $750 million loans to substantially reduce PRC’s accumulated losses.

Houlihan Lokey acted as financial advisor to Sumitomo Chemical. The transaction demonstrates Houlihan Lokey’s capability to offer clients a full suite of services with a multifaceted approach involving corporate finance, oil and gas expertise, accounting, and valuation advisory.

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