Air Products Divests An Electronics Line

Air Products & Chemicals will sell its business in high-purity process chemicals to KMG Chemicals for $74.6 million. The business, which has annual sales of about $90 million, supplies the electronics industry with chemicals used to etch and clean the surface of semiconductor wafers. Air Products says the business, acquired as part of its 2003 purchase of Ashland's electronic chemicals division, no longer fits its portfolio. Houston-based KMG says the purchase "essentially doubles the size of our company."