Plastics additives supplier SI Group entered into an agreement to sell the majority of its global industrial resin business and its Brazilian specialty business to ASK Chemicals GmbH.
The transaction is expected to close later in 2019, according to a SI Group news release.
The business covers materials for end use such as abrasions, friction and impregnation.
SI's main business includes plasticizers, flame retardants, antioxidants and light-stabilizers. In May, SI was acquired by SK Capital, which merged it with its own Addivant business. SK Capital bought SI from the family of W. Howard Wright, a former GE chemist who founded the firm in 1906. Wright, who worked with Thomas Edison while at GE, set up Schenectady Varnish Co. to supply that material to GE plants in the area.
The industrial resins business covers SI Group's industrial resins products and associated manufacturing sites in Rio Claro, Brazil; Ranjangaon, India; and Johannesburg and Durban, both in South Africa, as well licensed technology and tolling agreements.
SI Group will carve out related businesses at the four sites, including the manufacture of global rubber and adhesives and oilfield products, as well as foundry products in Brazil.
The decision to sell the portion of the business provides an opportunity to reshape SI Group's portfolio, CEO and President David Bradley said in a statement.
"The sale of this business provides proprietary technology and know-how in the industrial resins business to ASK while realigning our focus around performance additives," Bradley said.
SI Group operates more than 30 manufacturing facilities with more than 3,000 employees, and is headquartered in Schenectady, N.Y.
