Canadian Occidental Petroleum Ltd. still wants to sell its PVC film division, but has not set a deadline on its fate. ``If no one wants to buy it we will keep running it ourselves,'' Gordon Milne, the firm's divisional vice president of chemicals and finance, said in a telephone interview from Canadian Oxy's head office in Calgary, Alberta. ``It still makes money, so there is no drastic decision.''
Milne said an undisclosed company was interested in buying the PVC film business in Tottenham, Ontario, but it did not finalize the deal. In the summer, Canadian Oxy retained Transaction Group of Cleveland to help find a buyer. Milne said Transaction Group is ``talking to a few companies now,'' but he would not disclose their identity. Canadian Oxy confirmed in November it was looking for a buyer.
The PVC film business had sales of about US$14.7 million last year and processed about 20 million pounds of vinyl resin. It has a single line making calendered film for blister and other packaging, and employs 55. It is separate from Dallas-based Occidental Chemical Corp.'s film business.
Milne said PVC films are non-strategic to Canadian Oxy's chemical business, which foc-uses on industrial chemicals such as sodium chlorate, chlorine and caustic soda.
