MOSCOW (MRC) -- Arkema announces the proposed divestment of its PMMA business to Trinseo for an enterprise value of EUR1,137 million, as per the company's press release.
This project is a new step in the group’s transformation, and is fully in line with Arkema’s ambition to become a pure Specialty Materials player by 2024.
The offer values this activity at EUR1,137 million, i.e. 9.3 times estimated 2020 EBITDA.
The project offers great development opportunities for the PMMA business over the long term.
Arkema’s PMMA activity is an integrated business, from production of methyl methacrylate to polymethyl methacrylate, marketed under the well-known brands Plexiglas on the American continent and Altuglas in the rest of the world. This activity benefits from leading commercial positions with products primarily dedicated to the automotive, construction, signs & displays, and sanitary ware markets.
The business under divestment is very competitive, employs some 860 people and operates 7 production sites (4 in Europe and 3 in North America). Sales in 2020 are estimated at around EUR510 million for an EBITDA around EUR122 million, a solid performance in the context of Covid-19. In 2019, EBITDA was close to its historic high, at EUR160 million.
Trinseo, a global materials solutions provider and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders, and synthetic rubber, generated sales of US3.8 billion in 2019, and operates 17 production sites worldwide, with a workforce of 2,700 people. Arkema’s PMMA activity will complement Trinseo’s range of performance plastics (ABS, PC, etc.), and strengthen its positions in the automotive, construction and lighting markets. Hence, these highly complementary activity portfolios will offer new growth and development opportunities.
The offer received is based on an enterprise value of EUR1,137 million, and the capital gains tax is expected at around 15% of this amount.
With this proposed divestment, which comes after the sale of the functional polyolefins business to Korean group SK last June, the share of Specialty Materials sales within Arkema increases from 79% to 87% based on the 2019 proforma figures. The Group thus takes another major step in its transformation, with the ambition of becoming a pure Specialty Materials player by 2024, centered only around Adhesive Solutions, Advanced Materials, and Coating Solutions.
"This proposed divestment is fully in line with the Group's strategy presented at our Capital Markets Day last April. It will allow Arkema to continue to significantly reduce the share of its Intermediates segment and to consolidate its foothold in specialty materials with high technological content. Trinseo is a high-quality company which will be able to welcome in the best possible way PMMA’s management and highly professional teams, support its customers and partners over the long term, and capture the many growth opportunities for this sustainable and high performance material" stated Thierry Le Henaff, the Group’s Chairman and CEO.
The proposed disposal is subject to the approval of the relevant antitrust authorities and to an information and consultation process involving Arkema’s employee representative bodies. The deal is expected to be finalized mid-2021.
As MRC wrote before, earlier this month, Arkema completed the acquisition of Colorado Photopolymer Solutions (CPS), a US-based provider of photopolymer formulation services.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,760,950 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, up by 3% year on year. Only high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
Arkema is a global manufacturer in specialty chemicals and advanced materials, with 3 business segments - High Performance Materials, Industrial Specialties, and Coating Solutions - and globally recognized brands. The Group reports annual sales of EUR8.8 billion. Buoyed by the collective energy of its 20,000 employees, Arkema operates in close to 55 countries.
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