Cytec Industries Inc. has sold its 50 percent share in acrylic sheet maker Cyro Industries to partner Degussa AG's specialty polymers division for $95 million.
Rockaway, N.J.-based Cyro had been a 50-50 joint venture between Cytec and Degussa since 1976. The sale includes an administrative office in Rockaway and plants in Sanford, Maine; Wallingford, Conn.; Osceola, Ark.; and Waggamin, La. Some 680 Cyro workers will transfer to Degussa.
``Over the last few years, the strategic interest of the partners has changed,'' Cytec Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer David Lilley said in an April 25 news release. ``The sale ... enables Cytec to focus greater attention to the growth of our core businesses.''
Cyro had sales of $317 million last year, with about $175 million of that amount coming from sheet products, according to a recent Plastics News estimate. A recent PN ranking placed Cyro as North America's 37th-largest film and sheet maker. The firm also makes acrylic-based compounds.
Degussa Specialty Polymers is a leading maker of acrylic resins and other specialty plastics. The firm, which had 2004 sales of 1.4 billion euros ($1.8 billion), also produces Plexiglas acrylic sheet in Europe. The business is a unit of Degussa AG, a chemicals firm in Dusseldorf, Germany, which posted 2004 sales of 11.2 billion euros ($14.6 billion).
In an April 25 news release, Degussa officials said Cyro will be combined with Degussa's North American methacrylates business. Degussa Specialty Polymers head Manfred Spindler said the acquisition of Cyro ``will pave the way to roll out the full range of [Degussa's] specialty products to the American markets.''
Cytec, a publicly held specialty chemicals firm based in West Paterson, N.J., posted sales of about $3 billion last year.