Market Dynamics
ARKEMA : announces a project for the divestment of its Coating business in South Africa
Time: 2013-12-30 Source from: ARKEMA
Arkema announces a plan to divest its two South African subsidiaries, Arkema Resins Proprietary Limited and Harveys Composites Proprietary Limited to South African company, Ferro Industrial Products Proprietary Limited, specializes in the production and distribution of coatings and materials for composite markets. Through this divestment, Arkema will dispose of non-strategic activities - such as resins for composite materials - which represent few synergies with the remainder of its coating activities.
As part of the Coating Resins business unit within the Coating Solutions segment, the two subsidiaries to be divested accounted for sales of some €45 million in 2012. The proposed divestment concerns 125 people, a production plant in Isipingo (Arkema Resins Proprietary Limited) near Durban, and 5 storage facilities (Harveys Composites Proprietary Limited).
Arkema will retain a presence in South Africa in the coating sector through Ferro, via licensing and distribution agreements.
The propose divestment is subject to approval by the relevant antitrust authorities in South Africa. The deal is expected to be closed in the second quarter 2014.
This operation is fully in line with Arkema's ambition to be a world leader in specialty chemicals and advanced materials and with the target, announced at the September 2012 Investor day, to divest around 400 million euros of sales between 2012 and 2016.