Avient selling plastics distribution unit to H.I.G.

As part of its strategy to transform itself into a specialty materials company, Avient is selling its plastics distribution business, long one of its core business units, to the private equity firm H.I.G. Capital for $950 million. It generated sales of $1.6 billion—about a third of Avient’s total—and had operating profits of about $90 million in 2021. The company announced that it was looking for a buyer for the business in April, when it also unveiled its purchase, for nearly $1.5 billion, of DSM’s Dyneema ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene business. That deal is expected to close next month. Avient intends to use the $750 million in net proceeds that it expects from the distribution sale to pay down debt. The firm made another specialty acquisition in 2020, when it bought Clariant’s masterbatch unit for $1.4 billion.