Page 151 - CW E-Magazine (27-8-2024)

News from Abroad

EXIT PLANS
Carlyle considering sale of Nobian for €3-bn: Report

American multinational private Nobel chemicals arm Nouryon, and
equity, alternative asset management then spun out Nobian in 2021.
and financial services corporation
Carlyle is considering selling Dutch While the principal uses for
salt and chemicals producer Nobian for Nobian’s salt-based chemicals remain
€3-bn, according to a report in the UK everyday products such as textiles,
Financial Times. pharmaceuticals and disinfectants, they
are also vital for clean energy solutions
Nobian, owned by Carlyle and such as electric vehicle batteries and
Singaporean sovereign wealth fund wind turbines.
GIC, produces high-purity salt, chlorine
and other speciality chemicals for use The business has mined salt in the
in applications including solar panels, Netherlands since 1918 and is also
battery storage systems and insulation. exploring using underground salt caverns
to store hydrogen, natural gas and re-
Carlyle and Singaporean sovereign newable energy in the form of com-
wealth fund GIC acquired the salt pro- merate Akzo Nobel for €10.1-bn in what pressed air. Nobian has production sites
ducer in 2018 when they bought the remains Carlyle’s biggest European in the Netherlands, Germany and Den-
chemicals division of Dutch conglo- deal. The partners renamed the Akzo mark and employs about 1,600 people.
FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL
Avon Products files for bankruptcy to deal with talc

lawsuits

UK-headquartered beauty brand, Avon has become the latest business
Avon Products, which owns the beauty to file a Chapter 11 case with a goal of
brand Avon in the UK, Europe and resolving its talc-related liabilities after
Latin America has filed for bankruptcy Johnson & Johnson and talc suppliers
as it tries to off-load more than $1-bn Imerys Talc America; Cyprus Mines;
of debt, including millions of dollars Whittaker, Clark & Daniels; and
in liabilities linked to lawsuits alleging Barretts Minerals.
that its talc-based products contained
cancer-causing asbestos. “This action and the proposed sale
of Avon’s non-U.S. operations will
Avon Products Inc. (API), a subsi- maximise the value of our assets and
diary of Brazil’s Natura, which bought enable us to address our obligations in
Avon’s non-North American trading busi- an orderly manner,” Mr. John Dubel,
nesses in 2020, has filed for Chapter 11, API has already spent $225-mn in chair of Avon Products, said in a
the American version of administration. costs defending itself against personal release.
injury lawsuits and settlement pay-
API said that the process would ments and said it does not have “suffi- The Avon Company, which is the
allow it to address its debt obligations cient liquidity” to defend or settle the Avon brand in the U.S. and is operated
in an “orderly manner”. Natura has pro- 386 individual talc-related cases. The by LG Household & Health Care Ltd.,
posed to buy back its trading operations company has total debts of $1.3-bn and isn’t affiliated with other Avon entities
outside the US for $125-mn after the liabilities relating to talc claims worth and isn’t part of the Chapter 11 bank-
bankruptcy process is complete. $78-mn. ruptcy proceedings.

Chemical Weekly August 27, 2024 151

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