Clariant to Sell Scientific Design Stake to SABIC
Clariant has signed definitive agreements to divest its 50% stake in the joint venture that owns Scientific Design Company to its long-term joint venture partner, SABIC. The Saudi group will execute a call option raised in 2015 to acquire the stake in the business bought by Germany’s Süd-Chemie in 2003 prior to its acquisition by Clariant.
Follwing due diligence, the partners agreed to value the US-headquartered JV at $260 million, with Clariant’s 50% share thus worth $130 million. Coupled with a profit-sharing agreement that began on Jan. 1, 2021 and will end with the transaction’s closing, Clariant said this represents an attractive valuation for its stake at around 12 times Scientific Design’s 2021 expected EBITDA, assuming a mid-2022 closing.
For 2020, Scientific Design, based in Little Ferry, New Jersey, reported sales of 121 million Swiss francs. The company is engaged in the development, licensing and catalyst supply of proprietary processes for the production of ethylene oxide (EO), ethylene glycol (EO/EG), bio-ethylene, bio-EO, bio-EG, EO derivatives, polyols and maleic anhydride. It also produces proprietary catalysts and equipment for use in its own and other industrial processes.
Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist
