Aug 21 2006
Ferro Corporation announced today that it has reached a definitive agreement to sell its Specialty Plastics business to Wind Point Partners, a private equity investment firm. The sale is scheduled to close in the third quarter of 2006.
Ferro plans to use the sale proceeds to reduce outstanding debt.
The sale of Specialty Plastics is consistent with Ferro's strategy to drive performance improvement and position the Company for long-term growth. The Company has been moving aggressively to strengthen its financial results through portfolio management, operational restructurings, business streamlining and management realignment, as well as productivity and pricing initiatives. It recently announced that it is embarking on a restructuring of the European operations of its Inorganic Specialties businesses. The restructuring is expected to generate annualized savings of $40 million to $50 million by the end of 2009.
"We are focused on transforming Ferro into a high-performance company, both operationally and financially," said CEO James F. Kirsch. "Our new management is moving aggressively to drive profitability and to position our operations for accelerated growth in new geographic and customer end markets.
"We continue to evaluate our business for divestment opportunities with the goals of reducing debt and leveraging technology and production synergies across a narrower set of related, core businesses that have strong growth characteristics."
Ferro's Specialty Plastics business develops and produces customized thermoplastic compounds and alloys, plastic colorants, gelcoats, and thermoset pastes that are marketed to manufacturers in a broad range of end markets. It generated 2005 revenues of approximately $275 million. It has about 750 employees and operates 11 production facilities in the United States, Europe and Latin America, with the largest facilities located in Evansville, Indiana; Stryker, Ohio; Almazora, Spain; and Rotterdam, The Netherlands.