Westlake Chemical Says Axiall Rejects Its Takeover Offer Of $20 Per Share

(RTTNews) - Westlake Chemical Corp. (WLK) said it has proposed to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Axiall Corp. (AXLL) for $20.00 per share in cash and stock. Shares of Axiall are gaining 74 percent in pre-market activity following the news.

However, Westlake added that the proposal was summarily rejected by the Axiall Board. The company noted that the proposal represented a significant premium of 108 percent to Axiall's closing price of $9.60 on January 22, 2016.

The total value of the proposed transaction is about $2.9 billion, including the assumption of certain Axiall liabilities, which include about $1.5 billion of debt outstanding as of September 30, 2015.

The offer price is comprised of $11.00 in cash and 0.1967 of a Westlake share, which represented a value of $9.00 based on Westlake's closing price on January 22, 2016, the last trading day before Westlake made its proposal.

Albert Chao, Westlake's President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are surprised and disappointed by Axiall's summary rejection of our proposal, which provides Axiall shareholders with a significant premium and upside potential via their participation in the increased scale and synergies of the combined company."

Chao added, "We urge the Axiall Board to act in the best interests of its shareholders by meeting with us to begin negotiating a transaction without delay."