US polyamide specialist Invista (Wichita, Kansas; www.invista.com) has hinted at plans to exit the polyamide fibres business. The company announced earlier this month that it was “exploring strategic alternatives” for its Nylon-branded portfolio. 

A sale, if it does take place, would extend to applications such as automotive airbags and industrial fibres, along with the Cordura high-tech fabric business. It would impact five supporting global manufacturing locations, including Seaford, Delaware, and Martinsville, Virginia, in addition to non-US bases at Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Gloucester, UK; and Qingpu district, Shanghai, China. Barclays has been tapped as exclusive financial advisor for the exploration process.

Shedding the businesses would allow the manufacturer to simplify operations and strengthen the focus on its long-term competitive positions in the upstream nylon and propylene value chains, CEO Francis Murphy said.

Murphy has declined to comment on whether talks with a potential buyer are in progress or how many people the affected activities employ, saying that “it would be premature to speculate on the final structure of a potential deal”. If interest in an acquisition is insufficient or a value could not be agreed, he suggested that Invista would keep the assets.

Related: Invista plans major expansion of materials business

Independent of a potential divestment, the company has stressed that it intends to continue supplying its global nylon and propylene value chain customers with intermediates, polymers, and speciality chemicals. 

Koch Industries (Wichita, Kansas, USA; www.kochind.com) has owned Invista and the Nylon trademark since buying the assets from founder DuPont (Wilmington, Delaware USA; www.dupont.com) for USD 4.4 bn in 2004. In 2009, the acquisitive family-owned enterprise, upon expiration of a global non-compete agreement with DuPont, added a PA 6.6 engineering plastics arm. 

Today, Invista is positioned vertically along the PA chain from intermediates adiponitrile (ADN) and hexamethylene diamine (HMD) to finished PA 6.6. It also produces polypropylene.

In October 2023, the company unveiled plans to shutter its domestic ADN and HMD plants in Orange, Texas, citing market substitution of high-priced PA 6.6.