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Activist investors vie a hand within the separation of Versum from Air product & Chemicals and also the orientation of Ashland as a specialty chemicals-focused entity. Honeywell, in distinction, acted on its own to make AdvanSix as the simplest way to exit the nylon six business years when competitors DuPont and Solutia sold their sickly nylon arms.
Versum chief operating officer Guillermo Novo says the launch of his firm creates a “focused pure-play within the semiconductor business,” with $1 billion in annual sales and one,900 staff. Originally, Versum was to incorporate businesses in epoxy set agents and ployurethan additives, however they were sold to Evonik Industries in might for $3.8 billion.
The byproduct of Versum may be copied back to activist capitalist William Ackman of Pershing sq. Capital Management, United Nations agency took a tenth position in Air product in 2014 and pushed it to maximise stockholder worth.
Ashland too initiated a program to enhance stockholder worth when activist capitalist Jana Partners took a seven-membered stake within the firm in 2014. The conceive to hive off Valvoline was hatched the subsequent year. it absolutely was completed on Sept. twenty eight once Ashland sold a Revolutionary Organization 17 November stake within the car care firm and raised quite $750 million.
The separation of Valvoline concludes a journey for Ashland from a regional oil trained worker to a specialty chemicals firm that aims to derive half-hour of sales from new and patent-protected product, senior vp Louis Fernandez-Moreno tells C&EN. The firm currently hopes its rebranding effort can additional closely determine the Ashland name chemically and materials for private care, prescription drugs, and construction.
Although Honeywell didn’t bear AdvanSix underneath activist capitalist pressure, it did cite stockholder worth united reason motivating the move. As a standalone business, AdvanSix can have the “flexibility to pursue growth strategies… and serve our customers with legerity,” chief operating officer Erin Kane says.