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    22 April 2026

    OCI Global completes Methanex exit as sell-off nears end

    Written by Natalie Noor-Drugan

    OCI Global has sold its entire remaining stake in Methanex Corporation, raising $138.1 million in a block trade completed on 20 April 2026, bringing its three-year divestment programme close to a conclusion.

    The Amsterdam-listed nitrogen and chemicals group has now raised approximately $11.6 billion in gross proceeds since launching a strategic review in spring 2023, and has returned approximately $7 billion — equivalent to EUR 31 per share — to shareholders over four years. All outstanding debt has been repaid.

    Assets sold

    OCI has divested five major businesses since 2023:

    • Fertiglobe — its 50% stake in this Middle East urea and ammonia producer was sold to ADNOC for $3.62 billion
    • Iowa Fertilizer Company — sold to Koch Ag and Energy Solutions for $3.6 billion; one of North America’s largest nitrogen fertiliser plants
    • OCI Methanol — sold to Methanex Corporation for $2.05 billion in September 2024; assets included a 910,000 t/a methanol and 340,000 t/a ammonia facility in Beaumont, Texas, a 50% stake in the Natgasoline joint venture (850,000 t/a, OCI’s share), and a mothballed 1 million t/a methanol plant in Delfzijl, the Netherlands
    • OCI Ammonia Holding — its ammonia distribution platform and Rotterdam terminal business, sold to AGROFERT for €290 million ($340 million), completed March 2026
    • Methanex shares — received as part-consideration for the methanol sale, OCI’s entire 12.9% stake was subsequently liquidated in two tranches for a combined $310.7 million, the last on 20 April 2026.
    • Separately, OCI’s Beaumont Clean Ammonia project — a 1.1 million t/a lower-carbon greenfield facility in Texas using carbon capture and sequestration — was sold to Australian energy group Woodside Energy. The plant was 97% complete in late 2025, but recently Woodside’s CEO, Liz Westcott said that the switch to carbon capture and storage at the plant would be delayed until 2027 due to construction delays. It will be the first large-scale lower-carbon greenfield ammonia facility in the world.

    What remains

    OCI’s sole remaining operating business is OCI Nitrogen in Geleen, the Netherlands. The site is Europe’s second-largest integrated nitrates fertiliser producer and the world’s largest melamine producer, producing ammonia, nitric acid, ammonium nitrate, urea, UAN, CAN and melamine. The European Nitrogen business generated $1.086 billion in revenue in FY 2025.

    The Geleen site is actively developing its low-carbon offer. In January 2026, OCI and BASF agreed the first deliveries of renewable ammonia — produced at BASF’s Ludwigshafen site using renewable hydrogen, certified under ISCC PLUS — to Geleen, enabling OCI to produce a new “Pure” low-carbon fertiliser line.

    Strategic outlook

    OCI’s board is reviewing a proposed merger with Orascom Construction, the infrastructure and construction group in which OCI’s controlling shareholder Nassef Sawiris holds a majority stake. The deal has a deadline of 30 June 2026, with an option for either party to extend to year-end.

    The Dutch Enterprise Chamber appointed independent directors to OCI’s board in January 2026 to protect minority shareholders during the review process. Those directors are conducting an independent assessment with their own legal and financial advisers, and have stated that “no outcome has been pre-judged.”

    If the merger does not proceed, OCI’s board has indicated it will assess alternatives, which could include a multi-year wind-down of the remaining business or a trade sale of the Geleen operation.

    Natalie Noor-Drugan

    Read more from Natalie Noor-Drugan

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