Clariant and SABIC have agreed to temporarily suspend the discussions on the intended business combination High Performance Materials (HPM), consisting of Clariant’s Additives and high value Masterbatches and parts of SABIC’s Specialties business.
Given the current market conditions, both parties have decided to temporarily suspend the negotiations is in the best interests of the respective shareholders of both companies.
Clariant will continue with the divestment of the Pigments business as part of the portfolio upgrade announced in September 2018 and has decided to also divest the entire Masterbatches business including both, standard and high value Masterbatches.
These divestments are expected to be concluded unchanged by end 2020.
To strengthen Clariant’s balance sheet and to return capital to shareholders, the proceeds from the divestments will be used to invest in innovations and technological applications within the core Business Areas.
The company believes the new Clariant will benefit from a stronger focus on differentiated, customer-specific products and offerings with attractive growth prospects and above average value potential.
With this more streamlined portfolio structure Clariant says it will be better able to intensify the focus on customer experience and fast, reliable customer fulfillment, as well as on the development of innovative and sustainable products and applications.