Clariant has agreed to sell its Detergents & Intermediates business to International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG) for 58 million Swiss francs, including 20 million in cash. The business employing around 660 people in Europe, mainly in Germany and France, generated sales of around 280 million Swiss francs in 2012.

The private equity grouping, which recently bought Frankfurt, Germany-based chemical producer Allessa, said the acquired Clariant businesses "ideally complements" its fine chemicals and custom manufacturing operations, providing the basis for a new detergents platform together with its U.S. hydrotropes & batch sulfonation business, Nease Corp.

Hariolf Kottmann, CEO of the Swiss specialty chemicals producer, said the planned divestment "marks the next step in streamlining our portfolio. Once completed, the repositioning will allow the company to focus on exploiting its strong market positions and intensify growth by focusing on customers and innovation."

Toward meeting its 2015 targets, Kottmann said Clariant "will focus on markets with future perspectives and strong growth rates and on businesses that have a competitive position, resulting in strong pricing power."

As an initial step in its repositioning, Clariant sold its Textile Chemicals, Paper Specialties and Emulsions business units at the end of September 2013 to US-based private equity investor SK Capital Partners for 425 million Swiss francs. The activities have been renamed Archroma.

The final step in the Clariant divestment drive will be the sale of the Leather Services business unit, aimed at completion "in the coming quarters," Kottmann said. The company meanwhile has acquired Chinese pigment manufacturer Jiangsu Multicolor, based at Wuxi, for an undisclosed sum and plans to build a violet pigment plant at Zhenjiang, China.