Dec 15 2006
LANXESS is now divesting all the activities of its Textile Processing Chemicals (TPC) business unit in North America. Star Chem, a specialist in textile and speciality chemicals, will acquire the operations based in the United States and Canada and will employ major parts of the workforces. StarChem is a subsidiary of Star Holdings, Inc., Dalton, Georgia, USA, and will be headquartered in Wellford, South Carolina, USA.
LANXESS and StarChem have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. Pre-merger notification to government agencies was not required for this transaction, which is expected close by the end of the year.
The TPC business unit employs about 380 people worldwide and has sales of EUR 150 million. In early November LANXESS already announced the sale of all its TPC activities outside of North America. It had originally been planned to close the Wellford site. “I’m pleased that the employees in Wellford now have better future perspectives,” commented Heitmann. “All the divestments we announced for 2006 and our first small-scale, regional acquisition have now been implemented.”