Hanwha Chemical Co. of South Korea said it is considering buying the petrochemical business that Dow Chemical Co., a U.S. chemical company, plans to sell.

Last December, Dow Chemical made public that it plans to sell or spin off its low-margin petrochemical division and decide on the terms of the sale in the second half of 2014.

“After hearing the news of Dow’s asset sales plan late last year, we have been keeping an eye on it,” a Hanwha official said, declining to give his name.

Hanwha Chemical, a unit of leading conglomerate Hanwha Group, is said to have picked Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse as its manager to handle the deal.

Hanwha Chemical had 12.8 trillion won ($12 billion) in assets as of the end of 2013, with its quick assets such as cash and cashable assets coming to 920 billion won.

The company narrowed its net loss to 79.5 billion won in 2013, compared with 112 billion won a year ago. But it swung to the black in the fourth quarter of 2013, recording 14.4 billion won in net profit from a net loss of 92.68 billion won.

In the three months to December of last year, the company reduced its operating loss in its solar energy business to 17.2 billion won from 149.1 billion won a year earlier. (Yonhap)