Belgium-based Solvay has entered an agreement to sell a chemical plant Charleston, South Carolina to German specialty chemicals producer Lanxess.
The 122-acre site is primarily used to manufacture phosphorus chlorine, and additives for plastics, flame retardants and agriculture chemicals. According to Solvay, the site rakes in about $77 million in annual sales.
Lanxess, which already has a rubber manufacturing facility in South Carolina, said it plans to use the purchase to expand its reach in North America. The site includes six production units and will become a part of Lanxess’ additives business, which is worth $2.4 billion and includes about 2,000 employees around the world.
“With Lanxess, our Charleston employees and our customers will have a buyer with a strategic, geographic, and technical fit to expand the business and its offerings,” Michael Radossich, president of the Technology Solutions global business unit at Solvay, said in a statement.
Radossich said the sale will help Solvay narrow its focus on “existing leadership positions in phosphine gas, phosphine derivatives, and phosphorus specialties.”
The site currently has about 90 employees and has been owned by Solvay since it acquired French chemical company Rhodia in 2011. The site was originally built by Mobil Chemical in the 1960s. In 1991, while it was owned by Albright & Wilson, an explosion at the plant killed nine workers and injured dozens, making it one of the worst manufacturing accidents in the city’s history.
The two companies plan to close the deal in June 2018. Financial terms for the agreement have not been released.
