Bayer MaterialScience to sell polyester resins businesses to Stepan

Bayer MaterialScience LLC has agreed to sell its global powder polyester resins business and its U.S.-based liquid polyester resins merchant business to Stepan Company of Northfield, Illinois. The sale is scheduled to be completed by June 1. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Both Bayer businesses are located in Columbus, Georgia. The 45 Bayer employees who work at the Columbus facility will be offered the opportunity to become Stepan employees.

"The divestiture allows us to focus on our core competencies," explained Daniel Meyer, head of the Coatings, Adhesives, Specialties business unit at Bayer MaterialScience AG. "We believe we have found the right home for our North American polyester resins business and look forward to watching it develop further successfully under new ownership."

Bayer will retain its trade name Desmophen? to continue to sell its diverse portfolio of products to the coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers industries around the world, including liquid polyester resins in markets outside the United States.

"This acquisition will significantly expand Stepan’s polyol product offering. Stepan is a leading producer of polyester polyol used in rigid insulation foam. This acquisition will diversify our polyol offering and accelerate our efforts to grow in CASE [coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers] and PUSH [Polyurethane Systems House] applications," said F. Quinn Stepan, Jr., President and CEO of Stepan Company. "We intend to make future capital expenditures to expand the capabilities at Columbus."

"Stepan is getting a solid business, a base of loyal customers and talented, value-driven employees," said Jerry MacCleary, President of Bayer MaterialScience in the NAFTA region. "Everyone wins with this transaction."