Evonik to divest non-core businesses including Polyolefins and Polyester lines
16 October 2024 – Evonik is reorganizing two business lines to strengthen their growth prospects. Coating & Adhesive Resins and Health Care will focus on and concentrate future investments in their respective core businesses. The remaining businesses outside these cores are to be sold to new owners or incorporated into partnerships. In individual cases, businesses are to be discontinued in a socially responsible manner. In total, businesses affected by these changes generate sales of €350 million.
“Our industry is undergoing fundamental structural change worldwide,” says Christian Kullmann, chairman of the executive board of Evonik. “We will align all our resources with our strongest businesses. Only then can we seize growth opportunities in these markets at the necessary speed. Conversely, this also means that for businesses where we cannot offer appropriate prospects at Evonik, we will implement solutions outside Evonik.”
Evonik’s Coating & Adhesive Resins business line will focus on two core areas for growth: liquid polybutadienes as additives for adhesives and sealants or tires, and specialty acrylics for medical technology and the packaging industry.
The business line’s existing polyolefins business, with sales of around €100 million, will be transferred to the C4 chain business at Evonik. In the future, the business will be sold as part of the C4 chain business.
The polyester business for coating and adhesive applications, with annual turnover of around €150 million, is to be sold. It has around 330 employees globally, in Germany and China. The largest site with around 250 employees is in Witten (Germany). There is also a smaller plant in Shanghai with some 30 employees.
Lauren Kjeldsen, head of the responsible division Smart Materials said : “The technological expertise of our polyester business is extensive, but to be successfully competing in the long term globally and to generate the necessary margins, investments are needed – and other companies for which polyester is a core business can realize these better than we can.”
