Lanxess AG and global private equity firm Advent International are planning a combined bid for Royal DSM's materials business, according to a German newspaper report.
The rumored bid was reported by Handelsblatt newspaper on Jan. 28. The report valued the DSM unit at 3 billion euros ($3.34 billion).
Officials with Lanxess in Cologne, Germany, declined to comment on the report. Officials with DSM in Heerlen, Netherlands, could not be reached for comment.
DSM in September announced plans to review its operations and possibly sell the materials unit, which makes nylon, PET, PBT, copolyester and other materials. Officials said at that time that the business will likely not be able to "maximize their full potential to drive the important industrial shift to a bio-based and circular economy." The unit has been managed largely on a standalone basis since the announcement.
Lanxess is a maker of specialty chemicals and plastics that employs 14,900 and posted sales of 6.1 billion euros ($6.8 billion) in 2020.
DSM is a global supplier of specialty plastics and chemicals. The firm employs 23,000 worldwide and has annual sales of almost $11 billion. In 2020, materials made up about 19 percent of DSM's overall sales, with the remainder coming from nutrition.
