Unbundling and sale of utility activities on the former Hoechst site in Vlissingen (2002)

The world-wide restructuring of the Hoechst Group led in 2000 to the unbundling of the Hoechst location in Vlissingen. The activities on the site covering an area of about one square kilometre passed into the hands of three independent parties. Thermphos became the owner of the phosphor and phosphor derivatives activities, the production of raw mate-rials for polyesters migrated to KoSa while Seaway took over several residual activities and assets. The utility activities and communal on-site facilities were placed within Indus-trial Park Vlissingen ("IPV"), a joint venture with the three parties as shareholders.

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IPV provided a broad package of services for its shareholders, notably:

The shareholders decided in 2002 that it was desirable to sell IPV to an independent party whose core activities comprised said services.

One candidate for the take-over was Delta, the leading energy and water company in Zee-land. Delta saw the acquisition of IPV as a way of reinforcing its position as a supplier to the on-site production companies as well as an opportunity to sell the services of IPV to a wider range of customers. Delta was only interested in the utility activities of IPV.

The take-over required three parallel lines of action. In the first place a plan needed to be devised for unbundling the utility activities from IPV and restructuring them as an inde-pendent organisation. In the second place agreements needed to be drawn up to arrange the delivery of services to the original shareholders of IPV on a commercial basis. Finally, the parties had to agree on the terms and conditions governing the transfer. Bridgecraft acted as co-ordinator of the activities involved. The principal was Delta. The transaction was completed in February 2003. The independent company now operates under the name Delta Utility Services.

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