Solutia being sold to Eastman Chemical

ERJ staff report (DS)

St Louis, Missouri - Eastman Chemical Company and Solutia Inc have announced that Eastman is to buy all the shares in Solutia Inc. The deal marks the end of Solutia's troubled history in which it went into chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2003 and emerged from that in  2008.

In May 2007, Solutia acquired the outstanding 50 percent of shares in the Flexsys business, which it jointly owned with Monsanto. Flexsys at the time dominated the rubber chemicals business around the world.

The company emerged from Chapter 11 at the end of February 2008, and quickly began restructuring the Flexsys business, closing plants and selling off lower profit activities, so that the company now holds only two primary rubber chemicals businesses: Crystex insoluble sulphur and Santoflex anti-degradents, based on its proprietary 4-ADPA technology. The company has continued to fight an expensive and time-consuming legal battle with Sinorgchem and other players over intellectual property rights.

In announcing the sale, Eastman said it has identified annual cost synergies of approximately $100 million that are expected to be achieved by year-end 2013. Key areas of value creation include the reduction of corporate costs, raw material synergies, and improved manufacturing and supply chain processes.

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Press release from Solutia

In 15 years, Solutia went from castoff to dream date

St Louis Today (US - Missouri)