Ineos offloads composites unit to VC firm

Ineos has agreed to sell its composites business to the private equity firm KPS Capital Partners for $1.78 billion. The business, which makes unsaturated polyester resins, vinyl ester resins, and gel coats for use in composites, has annual sales of more than $840 million. It has about 900 employees across 17 production sites and 3 technology centers. KPS owns a raft of industrial product manufacturers, including the starch and sweeteners maker Primient. Ineos’s divestment marks a change of strategy for the company, which in 2018 acquired the business from Ashland along with a butanediol plant in Marl, Germany, for $1.1 billion. These businesses had sales of $1.1 billion in 2017. Ineos has not cited a reason for its divestment. In a similar recent deal, Nippon Paint Holdings agreed to purchase AOC, which produces composite materials as well as adhesives, coatings, colorants, elastomers, and sealants, from the private equity firm Lone Star Funds for $4.35 billion.