Trinseo has begun work to explore the divestiture of its styrenics businesses and plans to launch a formal sales process in the first quarter of 2022.
The scope of this potential divestiture is expected to include the Feedstocks and Polystyrene reporting segments as well as the Company’s 50% ownership of Americas Styrenics.
The company had identified those three as targets for possible divestitures.
“The separation of the styrenics businesses would represent another key step in our transformation toward becoming a specialty materials and sustainable solutions provider,” said Frank Bozich, CEO. ” We will continue to prioritise investments in higher growth, higher margin and lower earnings volatility areas such as Engineered Materials and CASE with an ongoing focus on sustainability, including the continued decrease in our CO2 intensity through various initiatives including the transformation of our portfolio.”
In September, Trinseo acquired acrylic materials company Aristech Surfaces for $445 million. In May, it completed its $1.36 billion acquisition of Arkema’s polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) business.
On the divestiture side, it is selling its synthetic rubber business to Synthos for $491m in a deal expected to be completed in 2022.
Trinseo’s other business segments are Latex Binders, Engineered Materials and Base Plastics. Latex Binders makes styrene butadiene latex and styrene acrylate latex. Engineered Materials makes thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs), PC compounds, ABS compounds and blends of PC. Base Plastics makes makes acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), styrene acrylonitrile (SAN) and polycarbonate (PC).