LyondellBasell says receives offer from Reliance

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Indian energy giant Reliance Industries has made a non-binding cash offer to buy a controlling interest in bankrupt petrochemicals company LyondellBasell Industries, LyondellBasell said on Saturday.

It said in a statement the offer represented a potential alternative to its previously filed reorganization plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The statement did not say how much the offer was for. India's Economic Times reported earlier this month that Reliance was close to a nearly $6 billion overseas acquisition, and that the likely target was assets of LyondellBasell.

Reliance, India's largest conglomerate, has been looking to expand, taking advantage of low valuations to delve into international market.

The company is aiming to attain global scale for its conventional energy platform -- petrochemicals, refining and oil and gas exploration -- and invest in its new businesses such as retailing and alternative energy, chairman Mukesh Ambani said this week at annual meeting of the company's shareholders.

Reliance Industries was not immediately available for comment.

In September, Reliance raised about $660 million in a share sale that analysts said was likely to help the company make acquisitions.

Luxembourg-based LyondellBasell filed for bankruptcy protection in January, unable to meet its debt obligations after demand dropped for petrochemicals products during the global economic downturn.

The company, owned by investor Len Blavatnik through New York-based Access Industries, took on billions of dollars of debt obligations when an Access Industries-led group bought the company in 2007.

LyondellBasell spokesman David Harpole said the Reliance bid "represents a potential alternative" to the company's initial plan of reorganization that it has already filed.

"Management will continue to work with all parties to design an approach that maximizes value for the company's creditors through the pursuit of a confirmable plan of reorganization and enhances the financial strength of the reorganized company," the company said in a statement.

One complicating factor for a possible deal is the litigation between LyondellBasell's unsecured and secured creditors.

LyondellBasell will be unable to move forward with the company's plan of reorganization until that litigation is resolved, Harpole said.