Latest News by Industry
HOUSTON, November 24, 2021 – Westlake Chemical Corporation (NYSE: WLK), today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Hexion Inc. to acquire Hexion’s global epoxy business for approximately $1.2 billion. Based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Hexion’s epoxy business is an industry leader in the manufacture and development of specialty resins, coatings and composites for a variety of industries, including high-growth and sustainability oriented end-uses such as wind turbine blades and light-weight automotive structural components. In the twelve months ended September 30, 2021, Hexion’s epoxy business had net sales of approximately $1.5 billion.
With this transaction, which is anticipated to be completed in the first half of 2022 following customary closing conditions, Westlake will significantly expand its integrated business by adding a downstream portfolio of coatings and composite products to its leading chloro-vinyls businesses.
“Light-weighting is a critical feature for the manufacture of structural components for automobiles and for renewable energy, particularly the composite blades used by wind turbines, and epoxies are key ingredients for these sustainable products,” said Westlake President and Chief Executive Officer Albert Chao. “The industries served by Hexion Epoxy are very attractive to Westlake and the business is expected to be a synergistic addition to Westlake’s existing businesses. We look forward to welcoming the Hexion epoxy employees to the Westlake family and realizing the tremendous opportunities to grow the combined businesses.”
Hexion Epoxy is a global leading producer of epoxy resins, modifiers and curing agents for high-performance materials, coatings and composites. The fully-integrated business includes upstream base epoxy resins and intermediates delivered as liquid or solid epoxy resins, as well as downstream specialty epoxy resins used in coatings and composites. Hexion Epoxy operates globally on three continents with eight manufacturing facilities and five research and development labs located in Asia, Europe and the United States, as well as tolling sites in Asia.