Arkema to buy US Dow’s acrylate and UCAR businesses for $50m

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SINGAPORE (ICIS news)–France’s chemical maker Arkema said on Monday it will buy US Dow Chemical’s acrylate and latex assets in North America for a “fair value consideration” of $50m (€35m).

The assets include Dow’s Clear Lake, Texas acrylic acid and esters plant and the company’s UCAR emulsion systems specialty latex business in North America. The deal was expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2009, the companies said in a joint-statement.

“The proceeds from the sale are accretive to Dow’s shareholders and will be used for further de-leveraging,” the statement added.

Dow’s UCAR latex plants are located in Lake Charles, Louisiana; Alsip, Illinois; and Torrance, California.

“Today’s transaction, which comes well ahead of the 27 November deadline, is the major step in fulfilling our obligations to the [Federal Trade] Commission,” said Andrew N. Liveris, Dow’s chairman and CEO.

Dow is under obligation to sell certain businesses after it acquired Rohm and Haas earlier in the year to comply with US antimonopoly regulators.

Assets that Dow is obligated to sell include the following:

• An acrylic monomer plant in Clear Lake, Texas.
• Acrylic polymer operations in St Charles, Louisiana.
• An acrylic polymer plant in Alsip, Illinois.
• An acrylic polymer plant in Torrance, California.
• An acrylic monomer research-and-development group in South Charleston, West Virginia.
• An acrylic latex polymer research-and-development group in Cary, North Carolina.

($1 = €0.70)

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