Mutares buys Symrise's $200M terpene business as Perstorp shuts Ohio plant
What's the deal? Investment firm MutaresDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has acquired SymriseDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s terpene ingredient business for an undisclosed sum. The unit generates about $200 million in annual sales and employs roughly 170 people, mostly at plants in Jacksonville, Florida, and Colonels Island, Georgia.
What each side does: The business extracts terpene chemicals from pine-based feedstocks, producing dihydromyrcenol, linalool, and anethole for perfumes, household products, and food and beverages. Symrise is a German flavor and fragrance firm; Mutares is an investment firm building out its chemicals and materials segment.
Why now? Symrise entered terpenes in 2015 by acquiring PinovaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → for $420 million, but the business apparently underperformed. It expects the sale to result in a loss in the "mid-double-digit million-euro" range.
The other closure: Separately, Swedish specialty chemical maker PerstorpDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has shut its Toledo, Ohio, facility — the only US producer of trimethylolpropane and pentaerythritol. The site employed about 130 people, roughly 70% of Perstorp's US workforce, making products used in coatings and lubricants.
Mutares expands: The terpene deal marks a new investment for Mutares' chemicals and materials segment, deepening its push into the sector. The firm recently acquired SabicDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s engineering plastics business for $450 million.
The signal: The moves point to continued restructuring in specialty chemicals, as large producers shed underperforming units and shutter downstream US plants. Investment firms like Mutares are stepping in to consolidate the assets others no longer want.
Read more: cen.acs.org
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
