NEW YORK, US: PetroLogistics LP, a company that makes propane into a substance called propylene that’s used in consumer and industrial goods, said it hopes to raise about $ 600 million in an initial public offering (IPO) to reimburse employees and company backers including two private equity firms.
The Houston company did not say at what price it hopes to sell its units, how many units it would offer or when. Some of the IPO proceeds will reimburse private equity firms Lindsay Goldberg LLC and York Capital Management for construction costs.
PetroLogistics started operating in October at a plant it bought from Exxon Mobil Corp in March 2008. In 2010, PetroLogistics posted a net loss of $ 39.7 million on revenue of $ 30.4 million. For the first three months of 2011, the company posted a net loss of $ 22.9 million on revenue of $ 105.8 million.
The company said it has benefited from recent trends in energy markets. The increasing supply of natural gas and lower prices for natural gas means lower costs for PetroLogistics. Propane is a by-product of processing natural gas.
Companies that make propylene out of oil, meanwhile, have seen their costs spike and that’s made them less competitive, PetroLogistics said.
The company has multiyear contracts with Dow Chemical and Total Petrochemicals USA Inc.
PetroLogistics plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ‘PDH.’
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