EXXONMOBIL
Sale of “Santoprene” business to Celanese / Plants in US and UK to be transferred / Focus on primary olefin derivatives
 Celanese is set to acquire ExxonMobil’s “Santoprene” TPV business (Photo: ExxonMobil) |
ExxonMobil (Irving, Texas / USA; www.exxonmobil.com) has agreed to sell its thermoplastic vulcanisate (TPV) elastomers business, which includes leading brand “Santoprene”, to Celanese (Dallas, Texas; www.celanese.com) for USD 1.15 bn (EUR 972m).
Besides the Santoprene assets, the sale also includes ExxonMobil’s “Dytron” and “Geolast” brands, along with all customer and supplier contracts and agreements, comprehensive TPV intellectual property, and associated technical and R&D assets. Additionally, two production plants in Pensacola, Florida / USA and Newport, Wales / UK, with more than 190,000 t/y of capacity, will transfer to Celanese, along with approximately 350 employees.
ExxonMobil said the sale “advances strategic business objectives”. Jack Williams, senior VP of ExxonMobil, commented, “Reaching this agreement with Celanese is consistent with our strategy and allows us to focus on serving the growing market for primary olefin derivatives, where we can leverage our competitive advantages of industry leading scale, integration and proprietary technology.”
The transaction, which Celanese plans to finance through excess cash and available balance sheet liquidity, is expected to close in Q4 2021, and be accretive to earnings in 2022.
“With the acquisition of the Santoprene business, we are further expanding the unrivalled portfolio of engineered solutions we bring to our customers,” said Celanese CEO Lori Ryerkerk. “This transaction represents a high-return opportunity to drive future shareholder value by deploying our excess cash from the monetisation of our passive ownership in Polyplastics and continued strong cash generation in our businesses.”
Celanese exited Polyplastics (Tokyo / Japan; www.polyplastics.com) – a JV with Japanese chemical producer Daicel (Osaka; www.daicel.com) – in October 2020, selling its stake to its former partner for nearly USD 1.6 bn (see Plasteurope.com of 14.10.2020).
Tom Kelly, Celanese’s senior VP at Engineered Materials, added that the deal “substantially strengthens our existing elastomers portfolio, allowing us to bring a wider range of functionalised solutions into targeted growth areas including future mobility, medical, and sustainability”.
ExxonMobil said it will continue to serve elastomer customers with speciality products, including butyl rubber and “Vistalon”, which are used in a variety of applications.
Besides the Santoprene assets, the sale also includes ExxonMobil’s “Dytron” and “Geolast” brands, along with all customer and supplier contracts and agreements, comprehensive TPV intellectual property, and associated technical and R&D assets. Additionally, two production plants in Pensacola, Florida / USA and Newport, Wales / UK, with more than 190,000 t/y of capacity, will transfer to Celanese, along with approximately 350 employees.
ExxonMobil said the sale “advances strategic business objectives”. Jack Williams, senior VP of ExxonMobil, commented, “Reaching this agreement with Celanese is consistent with our strategy and allows us to focus on serving the growing market for primary olefin derivatives, where we can leverage our competitive advantages of industry leading scale, integration and proprietary technology.”
The transaction, which Celanese plans to finance through excess cash and available balance sheet liquidity, is expected to close in Q4 2021, and be accretive to earnings in 2022.
“With the acquisition of the Santoprene business, we are further expanding the unrivalled portfolio of engineered solutions we bring to our customers,” said Celanese CEO Lori Ryerkerk. “This transaction represents a high-return opportunity to drive future shareholder value by deploying our excess cash from the monetisation of our passive ownership in Polyplastics and continued strong cash generation in our businesses.”
Celanese exited Polyplastics (Tokyo / Japan; www.polyplastics.com) – a JV with Japanese chemical producer Daicel (Osaka; www.daicel.com) – in October 2020, selling its stake to its former partner for nearly USD 1.6 bn (see Plasteurope.com of 14.10.2020).
Tom Kelly, Celanese’s senior VP at Engineered Materials, added that the deal “substantially strengthens our existing elastomers portfolio, allowing us to bring a wider range of functionalised solutions into targeted growth areas including future mobility, medical, and sustainability”.
ExxonMobil said it will continue to serve elastomer customers with speciality products, including butyl rubber and “Vistalon”, which are used in a variety of applications.
06.07.2021 Plasteurope.com [248019-0]
Published on 06.07.2021
German version of this article...