As part of an overall plan to divest its global polycarbonate sheet business, German engineering plastics producer Covestro has announced it will sell the US business, based in Sheffield, Massachussetts,  to Plaskolite, North America’s largest manufacturer of acrylic sheet products. A sale of the European and Asia sheet business will follow.

The business with sales of around $170 million in 2017, will be continued under the new owner at the existing location. No purchase price was announced; however, Covestro said the sum was in the “high-double-digit million US Dollar range.”  Closing is expected to be take place in this year’s third quarter.

The transaction is being structured as an asset deal, which foresees the transfer of dedicated intellectual property and fixed assets, along with all employees, to Plaskolite.

Covestro said it will soon open a separate bidding process for its European business and in due course will announce details regarding its remaining outlets in the Asia-Pacific region.

“We continuously evaluate and optimize our portfolio to secure future growth and value creation. During that process it became clear that our sheets business will not be a strategic fit to our Polycarbonates business in the long term,” said CEO Patrick Thomas.

Highly durable and free formable Polycarbonate sheet is used in public transportation, roofing systems or signage applications, overlapping in some cases with acrylic sheet. Covestro, the former Bayer MaterialScience, is the leading producer of polycarbonate resin. The sheet business has traditionally been a sideline.

Earlier this month, Columbus, Ohio-based Plaskolite said it planned to acquire Lucite’s continuous cast acrylic sheet business, which comprises general-purpose sheet and sanitary ware spa and bath sheet, for an undisclosed sum. This deal includes a manufacturing plant in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.