Kraton on 30 October 2019 announced that it has agreed to sell its Cariflex isoprene rubber latex business unit to Daelim Industrial Co., Ltd. for a purchase price of USD 530 million. The transaction is expected to close in Q1/2020. Cariflex contributed USD 50.5 million of pro forma Adjusted EBITDA for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2018.
Kevin M. Fogarty, Kraton’s President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “Cariflex is an attractive business with a robust growth profile and pro forma Adjusted EBITDA margins in excess of 30%. We undertook the strategic review of the Cariflex business to explore the possibility of unlocking value for the benefit of our shareholders, as we felt the intrinsic value of the Cariflex business was not appropriately reflected in Kraton’s overall valuation.”
Sang Woo Kim, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Daelim, said: “Cariflex is a global leader in isoprene rubber latex and this combination will allow us to provide our customers with a wider range of innovative products while adding the ability to serve the medical and other high-end markets.”
Daelim Industrial is mainly engaged in petrochemical and engineering and construction businesses with USD 9.8 billion in sales as of 2018 fiscal year. Daelim Industrial has commercialized metallocene polyethylene for the first time in Korea and developing BOCD (Broad Orthogonal Co-Monomer Distribution) polyethylene and EPO (Ethylene-Propylene Oligomer) for only the second time worldwide.