By Arunima Kumar
(Reuters) -DuPont said on Friday it would sell most of its mobility and materials business to Celanese Corp for $11 billion, as the industrial materials maker continues to tweak its portfolio to focus on high-margin operations.
The deal, DuPont’s biggest since its split from DowDuPont, furthers Chief Executive Officer Ed Breen’s strategy of doubling down on the company’s electronics and water solutions businesses.
Last year, it struck deals to buy Laird Performance Materials for $2.3 billion and engineering materials maker Rogers Corp for $5.2 billion. It has also shed its nutrition and biosciences unit, along with two other businesses.
Delaware-based DuPont’s plan to sell its more cyclical mobility and materials unit, which brought net sales of $5 billion in 2021, was announced in November.
“After consideration of multiple deal structures, including a range of potential buyers, we are confident that our announced transaction with Celanese maximizes value for our shareholders,” Breen said in a statement.
The division had also attracted interest from private equity firms including Carlyle Group Inc and Apollo Global Management Inc, according to a Bloomberg report.
DuPont said it intends to use the proceeds from the divesture to fund the Rogers deal, mergers and acquisitions as well as to continue share repurchases.
The deal is expected to close around the end of 2022.
Celanese said it expects to achieve run-rate synergies of around $450 million within the first four years of deal close.
The deal is also expected to immediately add to Celanese’s adjusted earnings per share, with accretion of $4 or more per share once full synergies are achieved by 2026.
DuPont’s unit is a perfect fit for Celanese’s specialty plastics business and the valuation looks attractive, said Matthew Blair, analyst at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.
Shares of Celanese rose 3.7% to $157.92, while DuPont was up 4.2% at $83.07.
(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva, Devika Syamnath and Amy Caren Daniel)
