Georgia Gulf gets unsolicited $1 billion offer, says it will respond

A Houston plastics manufacturer has made an unsolicited $1 billion offer for Atlanta-based chemical maker Georgia Gulf.

Alan Chapple, spokesman for Georgia Gulf, said the company would respond "in due course."

Georgia Gulf has 3,600 employees at operations in the U.S. and Canada, but only 60 work at its headquarters at the Perimeter in Atlanta. The company was founded in 1985 through the acquisition of a majority of the chemical assets of Georgia-Pacific Corp. for $250 million.

It had 2010 revenues of $2.8 billion.

Rival Westlake Chemical Corp. offered $30 a share in cash, which it said was a 51 percent premium to Georgia Gulf's 30-day average share price. It said it made the move when Georgia Gulf did not respond to its interest in acquisition last fall.

Albert Chao, Westlake president and CEO, said, "Since the initial delivery of our proposal on September 20, 2011, we have made numerous attempts to engage in meaningful dialogue with Georgia Gulf and have expressed our willingness to explore ... whether opportunities exist that would justify increasing our proposal price. However, Georgia Gulf has been unwilling to provide us with information that would allow us to explore these opportunities or to enter into substantive discussions."

Westlake said it has acquired 4.8% of Georgia Gulf's outstanding common shares.