Dow and Ashland to divest business units

Two chemical businesses are changing hands as the industry cautiously increases the pace of mergers and acquisitions. Dow will sell its business in laminating adhesives for flexible packaging to Arkema for $150 million. The business has annual sales of $250 million. The deal includes five manufacturing sites in Europe and North America. The adhesives are used in food and medical packaging as well some optical applications. Separately, Ashland has agreed to sell its nutraceutical business to the private equity firm Turnspire Capital Partners for an undisclosed sum. Turnspire says the deal involves about 500 employees across four plants in North America. Chris Cerimele, a managing partner at the investment bank Balmoral Advisors, says that strong demand for specialty chemicals and favorable financial conditions are leading to an increase in deal volume relative to that of 2023.