A&O Shearman and Baker McKenzie are among the firms guiding Methanex’s acquisition of Dutch green fuel-maker OCI Global’s methanol business in a $2.05bn deal. 

A&O Shearman is acting for OCI Global on the deal, while Bakers is advising Vancouver-based Methanex – one of the world’s largest methanol producers – alongside Reed Smith, Canadian firm McCarthy Tétrault and Dutch firm Loyens & Loeff. 

The deal includes $1.15bn of cash and the issuance of 9.9 million of common shares of Methanex valued at $450m, as well as about $450m in debt and leases. 

The A&O Shearman team that advised OCI Global was led by New York corporate partner Romain Dambre, who joined the firm last year from Kirkland & Ellis, and associates Brittany Beyer and Yuwei Liu. They were supported by a team in the US, the UK and the Netherlands that included London corporate and OCI relationship partner Andrew Schoorlemmer, corporate partner Oliver Bacon, senior associate Tom Betts and associate Andrew Boyce, as well as Amsterdam corporate partner Tim Stevens and senior associate David Jacobs. 

Meantime Bakers is advising Methanex on the antitrust aspects of the deal. Washington DC partner Brian Burke is leading the team, with partners Samantha Mobley (London), Kurt Haegeman (Brussels) and Tom Jenkins (Brussels) assisting with the European antitrust work.

At Reed Smith the effort was led by Houston partners Efren Acosta (M&A) and Ron Scharnberg (tax), with support from counsel A.J. Wissinger and associate T.J. Thompson.

The Loyens & Loeff team was headed by corporate partner Rob Schrooten with help from corporate partner Menno Baks and associates Angelica Retsjkina and Ivar van der Mark, among others.

The sale to Methanex is the second multibillion-dollar deal in the past month in which A&O Shearman has acted for OCI, as the company sells assets to reduce debt, unlock cash for shareholders and focus on greener chemicals. 

Last month Dambre led the A&O Shearman team which advised OCI alongside Vinson & Elkins on the $2.35bn sale of its clean ammonia project in Texas to Australia’s Woodside Energy, which was represented by Latham & Watkins. 

Last year, OCI also agreed to sell its stake in Iowa Fertilizer Company to Koch Ag & Energy Solutions for $3.6bn. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton acted for OCI on the deal, with Jones Day across the table. 

The Methanex deal will see OCI become the company’s second-largest shareholder, with about 13% of the company, OCI said in a statement. It includes OCI’s interest in two methanol facilities in Beaumont, Texas, as well as a low-carbon methanol production and marketing business and a currently idled methanol facility in the Netherlands.

Deutsche Bank and RBC Capital Markets acted as financial advisors to Methanex on the deal, while Morgan Stanley & Co. International served as exclusive financial advisor to OCI. 

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2025.