Westlake Chemical to acquire Hexion's epoxy business for $1.2 billion
Global supplier of coatings and composites used in wind turbine blades and automotive structural components to expand Westlake’s chemicals portfolio.
Westlake Chemical Corp. (Houston, Texas, U.S.), an international manufacturer and supplier of petrochemicals, polymers and fabricated building products, has entered into a definitive agreement with Hexion Inc. (Columbus, Ohio, U.S.) to acquire Hexion’s global epoxy business for approximately $1.2 billion. Based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Hexion’s epoxy business manufactures and develops specialty resins, coatings and composites for a variety of industries, including high-growth and sustainability-oriented end uses such as wind turbine blades and lightweight automotive structural components. In the twelve months ending Sept. 30, 2021, Hexion’s epoxy business had reported net sales of approximately $1.5 billion.
With this transaction, which is anticipated to be completed in the first half of 2022 following customary closing conditions, Westlake expects to significantly expand its integrated business by adding a downstream portfolio of coatings and composite products to its chloro-vinyls businesses.
“Lightweighting is a critical feature for the manufacture of structural components for automobiles and for renewable energy, particularly the composite blades used by wind turbines, and epoxies are key ingredients for these sustainable products,” says Westlake president and CEO Albert Chao. “The industries served by Hexion Epoxy are very attractive to Westlake and the business is expected to be a synergistic addition to Westlake’s existing businesses. We look forward to welcoming the Hexion epoxy employees to the Westlake family and realizing the tremendous opportunities to grow the combined businesses.”
Hexion Epoxy is a global producer of epoxy resins, modifiers and curing agents for high-performance materials, coatings and composites. The fully integrated business includes upstream base epoxy resins and intermediates delivered as liquid or solid epoxy resins, as well downstream specialty epoxy resins used in coatings and composites. Hexion Epoxy operates globally on three continents with eight manufacturing facilities and five research and development labs located in Asia, Europe and the U.S., as well as tolling sites in Asia.
