OCI Mulls Sale After Shareholder Pressure, Sources Say

OCI Global said it received a statement from majority shareholder NNS Holding on Thursday, without disclosing its contents or taking a position on the communication. The Amsterdam-based fertilizer and methanol producer gave no further details on what NNS, which controls roughly 40% of OCI's shares through a Cyprus-based entity, had submitted.

The two-sentence press release – OCI's only public comment on the matter – came hours after Bloomberg reported that NNS had submitted plans for the company's future, a step that could precede a formal sale process. OCI shares rose 6.4% in Amsterdam trading Thursday, their biggest single-day gain in three months, on speculation that NNS would push for a break-up or outright sale of the company's ammonia, methanol, and nitrogen fertilizer assets.

The NNS statement, which sources described as a strategic review proposal, has not been made public. OCI did not respond to requests for comment on whether the board would evaluate any NNS recommendations as a formal offer or as a non-binding framework for restructuring.

OCI has been one of Europe's most closely watched chemicals plays since activist investors including Greece's Third Point LLC built positions in 2025, arguing that the conglomerate's sum-of-parts valuation exceeded its market price. The company operates ammonia plants in the U.S. Gulf Coast and the Netherlands and is the largest European exporter of methanol to Asia. A sale or spin-off of OCI's nitrogen business alone could fetch €3.5 billion to €4 billion, according to two analysts who track the sector.