Lanxess Closes Sale of Organic Leather Chemicals Unit
Following all approvals, German specialty chemicals producer Lanxess completed the sale of its organic leather chemicals business to TFL Ledertechnik on Jun. 1. The buyer is a global supplier of leather chemicals and a portfolio company of US private equity investor Black Diamond Capital Management.
The deal agreed in August last year includes all operations of the organic leather chemicals business line with around 420 employees. TFLs is paying a fixed sum of €80 million. A second component leverages a trade working capital mechanism that foresees a payment of around EUR 20 million in the 2021 third quarter. Thirdly, the purchase price includes a performance-related component of up to €115 million, to be paid out over the next three years. TFL also is assuming “certain liabilities.”
With the closing, Lanxess is finally exiting the leather chemicals field. In January 2020, it divested its chrome chemicals business and at the end of 2019 agreed to sell its stake in the related South African chrome ore mine. Since the end of 2019, that time, the Cologne-based chemicals and plastics producer has reported the leather business unit as a discontinued operation.
Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist
