Evonik Industries Confirms Acquisition Of Certain Assets Of Air Products & Chemicals

Shares of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. APD were trading higher by more than 2 percent early Friday morning after Evonik Industries, a European-based specialty chemicals company, said it will acquire the company's specialty and coating additives business.

As part of the agreement, Evonik will acquire the Air Products specialty and coating additives business (performance materials division) for $3.8 billion.

Evonik noted that the acquisition will be integrated into its growth segments nutrition and care, and resource efficiency. The company expects the deal to be accretive to its earnings per share in the 2017 business year.

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Klaus Engel, CEO of Evonik Industries AG, said, "Evonik is already one of the leading producers of specialty & coating additives. Air Products' Specialty & Coating Additives business perfectly complements this fast-growing segment. With this acquisition we are expanding our portfolio with precisely the right markets, products and innovations and continuing to invest in our growth and profitability."

Air Products said in its press release that it also plans on spinning off its Electronic Materials Division to its investors as a separate public company to be named Versum Materials. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of September 2016.

"The sale of Performance Materials Division is consistent with the long-term strategy for Air Products that we announced in September 2014," said Air Products' Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Seifi Ghasemi. "I am very pleased that PMD has a great future ahead of it as a core business of a company which is even larger than Air Products."

"As for the balance of our Materials Technologies segment, I am also very excited about the future of EMD, which we currently intend to spin-off as a new, world-class public company named Versum Materials. Guillermo Novo will be the CEO of the new company, and I will be non-executive chairman of Versum Materials while maintaining my current roles at Air Products.

"As a result of these moves, Air Products will be in an even stronger position to take advantage of the exciting investment opportunities to grow our core Industrial Gases business," Ghasemi said.