Rhodia completes sale of its basic chemicals activities in Europe
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Rhodia announced that it has completed the sale of its industrial and commercial activities in Europe related to basic chemicals to Bain Capital, a leading global private investment firm. The companies announced on November 4, 2002 the signing of an agreement for the divestiture of these chemical intermediates - including phenol, hydrochloric acid, and soda ash - which are clearly outside Rhodia's core businesses.
This sale thus fits Rhodia's strategy to re-align its portfolio to a growth model based on the cross-fertilization of technologies and the development of high value-added solutions for customers. With the sale, Rhodia exceeded its target announced at the beginning of the year 2002 of generating a total of EUR 500 million from divestitures.
These chemical intermediates represent about EUR 280 million in annual sales and employ approximately 460 people. To provide continuity, Rhodia will retain a minority interest of less than 20% in the business alongside Bain Capital's majority investment.
Bain Capital, which has more than $14 billion in assets under management, has been an active private equity investor in Europe since the 1980s. The firm's European team has strong experience in a variety of industries with "carve-out" transactions in which non-core businesses or assets of corporations are purchased by private investors.