The Chemical Engineer has reported that LyondellBasell has agreed a settlement with the US Government for clean up of contaminated US sites. Under the settlement, LyondellBasell will pay $170m to clean up 15 contaminated sites across the US.
The contamination relates to sites which were never operated by Lyondell or Basell but which had been acquired in historical transactions.
This blog has no knowledge of the transactions involved and does not know what was or was not done in terms of detailed technical due diligence and/or protection against historical environmental liabilities by Lyondell, Basell or any of its predecessors.
The settlement does remind us, however, that costs associated with environmental clean-up can be very high. As chemical industry M&A activity starts to increase, potential buyers should be mindful of the need to carry out comprehensive technical and environmental due diligence, to ensure that all potential value adjusting issues are identified and managed accordingly during any deal
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