Specialty chemicals company LANXESS recently signed a contract to sell its Urethane Systems business to Japanese UBE Corp. The enterprise value amounts to €460 million with expected proceeds of around €500 million. With this transaction LANXESS exits the last remaining polymer business. The transaction remains subject to the approval of the relevant authorities. LANXESS expects the transaction to close in the first half of 2025.

The Urethane Systems business comprises five manufacturing sites globally as well as application laboratories in the United States, Europe, and China. UBE Corp. will take over all operations from LANXESS with a total of around 400 employees. 

LANXESS will use the proceeds to reduce its net debt. The leverage ratio (net debt / EBITDA pre) will likely be reduced by ~0.5x.

“The sale of Urethane Systems marks another milestone in our fast transformation into a pure-play specialty chemicals company, as we are divesting the last remaining polymer business in our portfolio. We are convinced that the Urethanes business will have significantly enhanced opportunities for growth and development under the umbrella of UBE,” said Matthias Zachert, chairman of the Board of Management of LANXESS AG. “At the same time, we are using the proceeds from the transaction to strengthen our balance sheet by further reducing our net debt.”

Learn more about LANXESS at https://lanxess.com. Additional information about UBE Corp. is available at www.ube.com.