Evonik to restructure health care and coatings

Evonik Industries plans to sell or discontinue noncore activities across its coating and adhesive resins and health-care businesses. Businesses affected by the changes account for annual sales of about $380 million. In health care, Evonik will cease production of keto acids for pharmaceutical applications in Hanau, Germany, at the end of 2025, cutting about 260 jobs. The firm may also sell a share or all of its keto acids plants in Ham, France, and Wuming, China. In the future, Evonik will focus its health-care activities on drug delivery systems, cell culture ingredients, and lipids for messenger RNA and gene therapies. In coating and adhesive resins, Evonik will shift its polyolefin business, with annual sales of about $110 million, into its C₄ chain business, which the company plans to divest. It also intends to sell its polyester coating and adhesive activities, which have annual sales of about $163 million. Going forward, Evonik’s coating and adhesive resins business will concentrate on liquid polybutadienes and specialty acrylics.