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LYONDELLBASELL has rejected a takeover bid from India’s Reliance Industries and has instead filed a restructuring plan with a US bankruptcy court.

The amended disclosure statement and plan of reorganisation was filed with the US bankruptcy court in New York on 8 March and includes settlement agreements between both unsecured and secured creditors. A date of 11 March has been set for the court hearing to approve the disclosure statement.

Apollo Management, Ares Management and Access Industries will invest in LyondellBasell through a rights offering, in which 263,901,979 Class B Shares will be sold. The three companies will invest $1.5b, $476m and $806m respectively, under the equity commitment agreement. The companies will also have the right to nominate supervisory board members. Apollo will be able to nominate three, with Ares and Access nominating one each.

Reliance made its original unsolicited offer for LyondellBasell in November 2009, rumoured at the time to be around $10b, although neither company would confirm this. Reliance has upgraded its offer twice since then, with the most recent alleged to be in the region of $14.5b.

LyondellBasell rejected the latest bid after the scrutiny by the management and supervisory boards. The company says that Reliance made more than 20 visits to its facilities, and talks were held with management.

“The proposal from Reliance was carefully evaluated by our board, taking into consideration a host of relevant factors, including the views of key creditor constituencies. After deliberate consideration, it was determined that our amended plan is superior to the Reliance proposals, presents less execution risk, and is confirmable,” company spokesman David Harpole tells tce.

LyondellBasell filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2009 after its debts spiralled to more than $20b and could not at the time be restructured.