BDA advises Arkema on divestment of Chinese functional additives business

BDA has advised Arkema on the sale of a China-based functional additives manufacturing business to Hoe Seng Co Pte Ltd, a Singaporean investment holding company. The transaction involved the sale of Arkema’s ceramic opacifiers and polyester resin catalysts business units based in Guangzhou, China.

“The sale of these non-strategic activities for Arkema will enable us to focus our resources on the development of other core business segments in which we offer genuine added value and hold leading positions” stated Richard Rowe, Managing Director of Arkema’s Functional Additives business unit.

Ceramic opacifiers are used as additives for sanitary ware and ceramic tiles. Antimony-based PET catalysts are used by polyethylene terephthalate (PET) producers for polycondensation reactions. End-products include polyester fiber, resin for bottles, and tires.

BDA Transaction Team
Andrew Huntley, Senior Managing Director, ahuntley@bdallc.com
Paul DiGiacomo, Managing Director, pdigiacomo@bdallc.com

About Arkema

A global chemical company and France’s leading chemicals producer, Arkema consists of three businesses: Vinyl Products, Industrial Chemicals, and Performance Products. Arkema has revenues of Euro5.6bn. Arkema has 15,000 employees in over 40 countries and six research centers located in France, the United States and Japan. With internationally recognized brands, Arkema holds leadership positions in its principal markets.

About Business Development Asia

Business Development Asia LLC was founded in 1996. BDA assists multinational corporate and financial sponsor clients to identify and execute crossborder acquisitions, divestments, JVs, restructuring and capital raising, in Asia, the Middle East and internationally. The company is headquartered in New York with offices in London, Bahrain, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo. BDA employs 55 full-time professional staff across its eight offices, supplemented by a team of senior advisors around the world. BDA’s client list includes Air Liquide, Air Products, Apar Industries, Areva, BorgWarner, Cadbury Schweppes, Celestica, DIC, DuPont, Ecolab, Federal-Mogul, Godrej, Hanjin Shipping, Haldex, Henkel, Hercules, Hershey, Huntsman, Inabata, ITT, Johnson Controls, Johnson Matthey, Kennametal, Kimberly-Clark, Lear, Lubrizol, Magna, Mars, Molex, Nalco, Reuters, Rohm & Haas, Ryder, Seera, Siemens, SigmaKalon, Sumitomo Chemical, Sun Chemical, TATA Auto Components, Tenneco, Thomson, Timken, Tomkins, Tredegar, Visteon, WR Grace, and the British Government. Further information on BDA is available at www.bdapartners.com.

BDA is the Asian member of Close Brothers International, the integrated investment banking network with offices in the key financial centres in Europe, Asia and the USA. This transaction was originated with the involvement of Close Brothers SA in France.