Speculation is mounting that the Mitsubishi Chemical Group is pursuing the assets being sold by Buckeridge Group of Companies.
The Japanese company was formed in 2005 from the merger of Mitsubishi Chemical Corp and Mitsubishi Pharma. It describes itself as a leading global manufacturer of high-performance thermoplastics and composites.
As earlier reported by DataRoom, bids are due next week for the $800m Perth-based BGC building materials portfolio. Investment bank Macquarie Capital is working on the deal.
Last time the business was up for grabs, the country’s largest building materials provider, Boral, and Cement Australia, a joint venture owned by Holcim and Hanson, were believed to be the keenest suitors.
Boral is now fully controlled by the empire of West Australian billionaire Kerry Stokes, who owns most of the listed diversified company Seven Group Holdings.
Suggestions are that the BGC unit on offer could be earning between $60m and $80m annually, which could put a price tag of $600m to $800m on the operation, based on its aspirations to achieve a price of 10 times its earnings.
BGC was up for sale in 2022, but buyers were unwilling to take on the family-owned company’s loss-making home building unit, which has since been hived off.
On offer are BGC’s highly sought-after West Australian cement grinding terminal, quarries and concrete businesses.
Analysts say building materials are attractive to offshore groups because of the lack of housing supply.
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