Chemtura Corp., a manufacturer of specialty chemicals, announced Monday the signing of an asset purchase agreement to sell its EPDM business; all Rubber Chemicals businesses associated with Geismar, La.; and Flexzone antiozonants worldwide to Lion Copolymer, LLC, an affiliate of Lion Chemical Capital, LLC.
The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2007.
Lion also will purchase Chemtura's interest in Chemtura-CNCCC Danyang Chemical Co., Ltd. After the sale, Lion will have complete responsibility for the company, including operation of the Danyang, China, facility, which produces rubber chemicals.
The Geismar and Danyang facilities employ about 190 people, who are expected to become Lion employees, along with the nearly 25 sales, marketing and R&D personnel belonging to the businesses being sold.
Chemtura will use the proceeds of the sale for the recently completed purchase of specialty lubricant producer Kaufman Holdings. The acquisition included Kaufman's Hatco Corp., a producer of polyol esters, and Anderol Inc., a manufacturer of synthetic lubricants for aviation and industrial applications.
Chemtura will continue to manufacture other rubber chemicals at several facilities worldwide. The company had pro forma 2005 sales of $3.9 billion.
