Westlake Chemical Says Axiall Rejects Sweetened Offer; Plans Proxy Fight

(RTTNews) - Westlake Chemical Corp. (WLK) said it has increased its proposal to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Axiall Corp. (AXLL) to an aggregate value of $23.35 per share, based on the closing price of Westlake's common stock on April 1, 2016.

The revised offer is comprised of $14.00 in cash and 0.1967 of a Westlake share. It represents a premium of more than 143 percent to Axiall's closing price of $9.60 per share on January 22, 2016, the last trading day before Westlake submitted its initial proposal to Axiall. It also represents an increase of about 17 percent to Westlake's initial proposal of $20.00 per share.

Westlake noted that the total value of the revised proposal is about $3.1 billion, including the assumption of certain Axiall liabilities, which include approximately $1.5 billion of debt outstanding as of December 31, 2015.

However, the revised proposal was summarily rejected by Axiall's board of directors. The company refused to make a counterproposal or otherwise negotiate or provide any constructive feedback, Westlake noted.

Given this response, Westlake said it intends to file preliminary proxy materials today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company also plans to proceed with soliciting proxies to elect an alternate slate of ten independent and highly-qualified candidates to Axiall's board of directors, who will ensure that all of Axiall's strategic options are considered fully. Westlake said it has issued a letter to Axiall shareholders.