Ashland pays $3.2b for International Specialty Products
ERJ staff report (PN)
Covington, Kentucky -- Ashland Inc. is paying $3.2 billion in cash for International Specialty Products Inc., a privately owned speciality chemicals firm with several rubber-related products.
Covington, Kentucky.-based Ashland announced the deal May 31, with Chairman and CEO James O'Brien saying in a news release that the transaction “enables [Ashland] to significantly expand our market positions in higher margin, higher growth and less cyclical global markets.â€
ISP -- based in Wayne, New Jersey -- produces numerous speciality chemical lines as well as water-soluble polymers, styrene-butadiene rubber and several plastic additives. Its main SBR production site is in Port Neches, Texas. In the year ended March 31, ISP had sales of $1.6 billion and pretax profit of about $360 million.
Ashland's plastics-related products included vinyl esters and polyesters used in composites. Late last year, the firm sold its plastic resin and chemicals distribution unit to a private equity firm for more than $900 million.
From Plastics News (A Crain publication)
Press release from Ashland
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