Advertisement

If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)

ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.

ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCES TO C&EN

Business

Dow Chemical Reveals Additional Divestments

Strategy: Big company continues sell-off of unwanted businesses

by Michael McCoy
December 5, 2014

Adding to a string of divestments of businesses it considers nonstrategic, Dow Chemical has signed agreements to sell its sodium borohydride business to Vertellus Specialty Chemicals and its polyolefin films plant in Findlay, Ohio, to ValGroup Packaging Solutions. Dow says the combined proceeds from the sales will total about $225 million.

The transactions are part of a drive to bring in between $7.0 billion and $8.5 billion by divesting unwanted operations, according to the firm. Last month, Dow signed a deal to sell its Angus Chemical nitroalkanes business to Golden Gate Capital for $1.2 billion. Also up for sale are Dow’s business in chlorine and derivatives and its AgroFresh unit, which offers a system that uses 1-methylcyclopropene to keep fruit from spoiling.

The sodium borohydride business, acquired as part of Dow’s 2009 purchase of Rohm and Haas, manufactures the chemical in Elma, Wash. Vertellus calls the Dow business the leading manufacturer of sodium borohydride, which is used as a reducing agent in the synthesis of fine chemicals. It also has bleaching applications.

Vertellus, owned by the private equity firm Wind Point Partners, recently acquired the British fine chemicals firm Pentagon Chemicals. It says the two deals aid its push to supply customers in the life sciences and high-growth industrial markets.

The Findlay plant makes polyolefin films for a variety of applications. Dow expanded the facility in 2010 as part of a move into encapsulant films for solar panels, but the company announced in September of this year that it would close the facility. ValGroup intends to reopen the plant in February 2015.

Article:

This article has been sent to the following recipient:

0 /1 FREE ARTICLES LEFT THIS MONTH Remaining
Chemistry matters. Join us to get the news you need.