ERROR 1
ERROR 1
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
Password and Confirm password must match.
If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)
ERROR 2
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.
In another exit from a traditional chemical business, DuPont has struck a deal to sell an 80.1% interest in its Delrin acetal homopolymer unit to the private equity firm TJC. The transaction values the business at $1.8 billion.
DuPont left Delrin out of the $11 billion sale of its engineering-polymer business to Celanese, completed last November, because Celanese had a similar acetal business of its own. Instead, DuPont decided to separately divest the Delrin unit, which has annual sales of about $550 million.
DuPont has been making Delrin since the 1950s. Acetal resins are stiff, have a low-friction surface, are resistant to wear, and are dimensionally stable. As a result, they are widely used in functional mechanical parts such as plastic gears.
DuPont is receiving $1.25 billion in cash and a note receivable of $350 million. It is retaining a 19.9% stake in the business. In a statement, DuPont CEO Edward Breen says keeping the share will allow “DuPont to participate in future upside potential.”
In a report to clients, Jefferies stock analyst Laurence Alexander says the sale continues DuPont’s portfolio transformation. “DuPont intends to focus on the higher-margined electronics and healthcare businesses, and intends to de-emphasize lower-margined industrial segments,” Alexander writes.
DuPont sold its nutrition and biosciences business to International Flavors & Fragrances in 2021, merged its agrochemical business with Dow’s as part of a broader transaction between the two companies in 2017, and spun off a chemical business as Chemours in 2015.
TJC, formerly The Jordan Company, isn’t a stranger to the chemical industry. Companies in its portfolio include Vantage Specialty Chemicals and the plastics-formulation firm Spartech.
Join the conversation
Contact the reporter
Submit a Letter to the Editor for publication
Engage with us on X