Unit to Acquire Mobil Corp.’s Resin Business

A unit of the German chemical and electronics giant BASF has agreed to acquire Mobil Corp.’s polystyrene resin business, including a plant in Santa Ana, the companies said Thursday.

BASF has been seeking to expand its polystyrene business worldwide and offered to buy the Mobil Chemical Co. plants a few months ago. Exact terms were not disclosed, but the Associated Press quoted a BASF spokeswoman as saying the purchase price was about $200 million.

Resin is a key ingredient in the manufacture of polystyrene, a plastic used in a wide variety of products such as plastic casings for televisions and other consumer electronics gear, clothes hangers and toys.

Rick C. Lee, Mobil Chemical plant manager in Santa Ana, said BASF officials informed him earlier this week that the plant’s 42 employees will be retained when the acquisition is completed in the spring.

“Our group is staying intact. . . . We were told that our jobs are secure,” said Lee, who will report to BASF’s polystyrene business group in Edison, N.J.

Mobil Chemical also has plants in Joliet, Ill., and Holyoke, Mass., and a research and administrative center in Edison. The chemical division employs 280 people nationwide.

BASF has 407 employees at four locations in Orange County, including two plants in Anaheim that make composite graphite for the aerospace industry and paints for the automotive industry. It also operates a polymer plant in Orange and a warehouse in Buena Park.