Troubled German specialty chemicals producer Lanxess has sold its wholly owned subsdiary Perlon-Monofil to Germany's Serafin Group for an undisclosed sum.

The divestment had been anticipated after the company last September said it was studying "strategic options" for certain non-core businesses.

Perlon-Monofil, one of the activities Lanxess inherited in its spin-off from Bayer in 2004, is a global market leader for polyamide and polyester (PET) monofil products sold under the trade names Perlon, Atlas and Bayco.

The company with 100 employees and sales of €30 million operates a production facility and technical center at Dormagen, Germany.

Through its Nextrusion unit based near Augsburg, Germany, Serafin already has good standing within the PET monofilaments for paper machine clothing and other technical textiles, said Lanxess board member Werner Breuers.

The acquisition will strengthen the market position both of Perlon-Monofil and Nextrusion, said Serafin managing director Philipp Haindl.