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Mergers & Acquisitions

Domo to buy Solvay’s European nylon assets

Sale will clear the way for BASF’s purchase of Solvay’s global nylon business

by Alexander H. Tullo
August 15, 2019

A photo of Domo's plant in Luena, Germany.
Credit: Domo
Domo's complex in Leuna, Germany.

BASF and Solvay have found a buyer for Solvay’s European nylon 6,6 business: the European nylon 6 producer Domo Chemicals, which will buy the assets for about $335 million, not including debt.

The European Commission approved BASF’s $1.8 billion purchase of Solvay’s nylon 6,6 business back in January. But given that the nylon 6,6 industry is already concentrated, with only a handful of players, the EC demanded that the companies sell off the bulk of Solvay’s European nylon 6,6 assets.

Included in the sale to Domo are polymers and intermediates operations in France, Spain, and Poland; engineering plastics plants in France and Poland; and a nylon fibers plant in France. BASF will also form a joint venture with Domo to produce the nylon 6,6 raw material adipic acid.

Not included in the deal is Solvay’s interest in an adiponitrile joint venture with Invista in France. Back integrating into this nylon 6,6 precursor was one of BASF’s main motivations for the deal. However BASF will get all of Solvay’s nylon assets outside of Europe. Altogether, the operations that BASF will get from Solvay generate sales of $1.1 billion annually.

Domo is a fully integrated nylon 6 producer. In Leuna, Germany, Domo makes nylon 6 and its main raw material caprolactam, as well as its precursors cyclohexanone, phenol, and cumene. The company says that the Solvay acquisition will boost its sales by nearly $800 million, to almost $1.8 billion annually. It will gain about 1,100 employees.

Alex Segers, Domo’s CEO, says the acquisition—which will make Domo integrated in both nylon 6 and 6,6—is a “major step forward” for the company.

The transaction as well as BASF’s purchase of the Solvay business are expected to be completed by the end of the year.

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