Kuraray to buy DuPont Glass Laminating Solutions/Vinyls for $543 million

DuPont has signed an agreement to sell its Glass Laminating Solutions/Vinyls (GLS/Vinyls), a part of DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers, to Kuraray for $543 million, plus the value of the inventories. The sale is expected to close during the first half of 2014 pending customary regulatory approvals.
 
GLS/Vinyls is a leading supplier of polyvinyl butyral and ionomer sheets for safety glass, and vinyl acetate monomer and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) products used in a variety of architectural, automotive and industrial applications.  GLS/Vinyls delivered full-year 2012 net sales of more than $500 million.  It has about 600 employees with six manufacturing sites in the US, Europe and Asia that serve more than 350 customers worldwide.
 
Keiji Murakami, President, Kuraray’s Vinyl Acetate Company, said, “Kuraray was one of the first to successfully industrialise and globally market PVA. As a pioneer of vinyl acetate related business, Kuraray has a global presence in the business area of PVA resin, PVB resin and film, PVA film that is used for LCD and detergent unit packing, ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) resin (trademarked as EVAL) used for food packaging and gasoline tanks, and PVA fibre (vinylon) that is used for a substitute of asbestos and a reinforcing material of cement.”
 
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Murakami added, “We will benefit from DuPont’s talented global GLS/Vinyls team and their technology, R&D, manufacturing and sales network that has supported it over the years. I am convinced these areas of expertise will allow us to continue to expand our Vinyl Acetate business going forward.”
 
William J Harvey, President, DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers, said, “GLS/Vinyls will have a good home with Kuraray.  That company’s focus on PVA as a central part of its core Vinyl Acetate business, its strong global market position and its capacity to invest in GLS/Vinyls all make this a good fit.”