Ex-OMV boss Seele is back: “We want to create global champions”

As a board member, Seele heads the chemicals and plastics business of XRG, the “international investment arm of Adnoc,” explained Seele to the media in Vienna on Tuesday. The investment vehicle, which was founded just one and a half years ago, has already built a portfolio worth more than 150 billion US dollars (127 billion euros).

In the XRG, Adnoc bundles the shares in Borouge International, the German group Covestro and the almost 25 percent stake in the partially state-owned OMV. As reported, OMV and Adnoc have brought their chemicals and plastics business into the new Borouge International. Plus the North American Nova Chemicals. And thus created the fourth largest polyolefin group in the world.

Borouge International (BI) is headquartered in Vienna, and the group is scheduled to be listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange in 2027.

Biggest investor

For XRG, Seele makes a clear commitment to Austria: “XRG is a long-term investor. We are not coming to optimize and get out again, but we are coming to stay for a long time. We are also talking about decades in Austria.” XRG is the largest investor in Austria, Borouge International is expected to become the most valuable company in the country after the IPO.

We are now entering a new dimension. “We can use the great technology ‘Made in Austria’ worldwide.” The aim is to create global champions and to achieve global leadership in terms of technology.

XRG primarily looks at the technology and supports the growth path. “I don’t like standing still. We want to increase our global market share and become the most profitable company in the industry worldwide,” outlines an ambitious soul.

Borouge’s advantage is, on the one hand, the cheap raw materials in the Gulf region and, on the other hand, the European technology. It’s not just about reducing costs, but also about producing higher quality products.

Seele also emphasized the “long list of optimizations to increase profitability”. He put the synergies at “at first glance $500 million,” but it could also be more.

Optimizations

However, as reported, Borealis has by far the weakest earning power among the companies. Seele did not answer the question of whether the optimization measures in Austria would result in savings programs and staff reductions. He emphasized that it is now a single company and no longer Borealis etc.

Seele also made a plea for Europe as a location. Unlike many skeptical investors, he firmly believes in the future of the continent. “Europe as a location for innovation is unbeatable.” Europe is the “birthplace for new innovations and a safe location”. When developing new technologies, “you don’t have to worry about someone stealing our technology.”

This innovative strength, historically anchored in Borealis’ Austrian roots, is the decisive lever for asserting itself in global competition.

Because of the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, not the entire quantity produced in the Gulf can be shipped. Production is currently being done in stockpiles – “the desert is big, we can store a lot there” – and alternative transport routes are being used. Seele is relying on a diplomatic solution, the question is the timing.

No comment on Russia

Seele considers the appointment of BP manager Emma Delaney as his successor as the new OMV boss to be an extremely good choice, “she is a capable energy expert. I wish her good luck from my own experience.”

Seele does not want to comment on his billion-dollar commitments to Russia as OMV boss.