MOSCOW (MRC) -- The board of directors of Westlake Chemical Corporation has authorized the company to repurchase up to USD250 million in shares of its common stock under a new share repurchase program, as per the company's press release.
This program is effective immediately. Repurchases under this program will be made through the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. These repurchases may be begun or suspended from time to time without prior notice.
The board also declared a dividend of 16.5 cents per share, payable on December 19, 2014, to stockholders of record on December 5,2014.
This is the 41st successive quarterly dividend that Westlake has declared since completing its initial public offering in August 2004.
As MRC informed previously, in August 2014, Westlake Chemical Corporation announced it had closed the previously announced acquisition of German-based Vinnolit Holdings GmbH and its subsidiary companies from Advent International, a private equity firm.
The Vinnolit acquisition includes six production facilities located in Burghausen, Gendorf, Cologne, Knapsack and Schkopau in Germany and Hillhouse in the United Kingdom. These operations have a combined annual capacity of 780 thousand metric tons of PVC, including specialty paste, thermoplastic specialties and suspension grades, 665 thousand metric tons of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and 475 thousand metric tons of membrane grade caustic soda.
Westlake Chemical Corporation is a manufacturer and supplier of petrochemicals, polymers and building products with headquarters in Houston, Texas. The company's range of products includes: ethylene, polyethylene, styrene, propylene, caustic, VCM, PVC resin and PVC building products including pipe and specialty components, windows and fence.
MRC