Reliance close to $6 bln overseas buy - paper

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Energy giant Reliance Industries is close to a nearly $6 billion overseas acquisition and the likely target is the assets of petrochemicals firm LyondellBasell, the Economic Times reported on Monday, citing an unidentified banker.

Luxembourg-based LyondellBasell filed for bankruptcy protection in January, unable to meet its debt obligations after demand dropped for petrochemicals products during the global economic downturn.

Reliance could buy the U.S. and European assets of LyondellBasell, the paper said, citing an unidentified banker.

At 0830 GMT shares in Reliance were up 2.8 percent to 2,012 rupees, in a Mumbai market that was up 1.45 percent, having risen as much as 3.6 percent to their highest since Oct. 29.

"Reliance has an unleveraged balance sheet, and they have some money on them," Deepak Pareek, an oil and gas analyst at Angel Broking said.

"An acquisition will put it on a different orbit."

Last month, Maurice Bannayan, a senior vice president at Reliance, told Reuters the firm was negotiating to acquire refinery and petrochemical units in the United States and Europe and could finalise a deal by end-2009.

In September, Reliance Industries raised about $660 million in a share sale that analysts said was likely to help the country's largest listed firm make acquisitions.

A company official, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said a team of company officials was currently in the United States, but declined to elaborate on what it was doing there.