Huntsman Corporation (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.huntsman.com) announced that it has signed a definitive agreement with Sasol Ltd. (Johannesburg, South Africa; www.sasol.co.za) to acquire the 50% interest that Huntsman does not own in the Sasol-Huntsman maleic anhydride joint venture (JV). The joint venture owns a manufacturing facility in Moers, Germany with capacity to produce 230 million pounds of maleic anhydride. Huntsman will pay Sasol $92.5 million, adjusted for debt and other agreed upon terms, funded from available liquidity. No other terms of the transaction were disclosed. Huntsman and Sasol currently anticipate the closing of the transaction to occur in the fourth quarter of 2019, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
Peter Huntsman, Chairman, President and CEO commented:
“Acquiring the remaining interest in our maleic German joint venture from Sasol will provide us with the flexibility to fully integrate our European business into our worldwide footprint, thereby better servicing our global customer base in key markets such as construction and coatings. This fits well into our core strategy to expand our portfolio of businesses with higher, more stable margins and strong free cash flow.”