Basell to buy Lyondell for $12.1 billion

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Dutch-based chemical maker Basell has agreed to buy Lyondell Chemical for $12.1 billion in cash, the companies said Tuesday.

Shares of Houston-based Lyondell (Charts, Fortune 500) climbed about 18 percent in premarket trading on the announcement of the deal.

The $48 a share offer represents a nearly 20 percent premium from where Lyondell stock closed on Monday. Including debt, the value of the deal is about $19 billion.

The acquisition of Lyondell comes in the wake of Basell's unsuccessful bid for chemical company Huntsman (Charts, Fortune 500). Basell had inked a deal to buy Huntsman, but a unit of private equity firm Apollo Management out muscled the firm when it came in with a higher bid last week.

The merger between Basell and Lyondell will create one of the largest chemical companies in the world. The combined businesses would have had 2006 revenue of about $34 billion, the companies said.

The boards of both companies have approved the deal, which is expected to close in the next several months.

Basell is owned by Access Industries, a closely held industrial company based in the U.S.