Kemira Will Buy Cytec Water Treatment Business

Finnish chemicals maker Kemira is acquiring Cytec Industries' business in water treatment chemicals and acrylamide for about $240 million.

Kemira says the new business, which had sales last year of about $335 million, will almost double the size of its water treatment chemicals operation. Cytec, for its part, says the deal allows it to exit a business that no longer fits with its strategic direction.

The sale includes five plants in the U.S., the Netherlands, and England. Four of the plants are expected to transfer to Kemira by the end of September, while a plant in Botlek, the Netherlands, will transfer early next year. Kemira has agreed to offer jobs to the approximately 480 people involved in the business.

Kemira says it is currently the leading global supplier of inorganic coagulants for water treatment. The Cytec business, in contrast, supplies coagulant and flocculant polymers that are based on organic monomers such as such as acrylamide and diallyl dimethyl ammonium chloride.

"The water treatment chemical business is a business of the future," says Mats Jungar, president of Kemira's Kemwater unit. "Increasing environmental awareness and regulations, as well as the need to minimize waste and optimize costs in water treatment processes, are causing demand to increase."