ESSEN, Germany—Evonik Industries A.G. has carved out its methyl methacrylates and polymethyl methacrylate business with the $3.3 billion sale of the unit to U.S. private equity firm Advent International.
Named after Otto Roehm, Evonik's founding member and the founder methacrylate chemistry, Roehm GmbH will represent "quality and a pioneering spirit," newly appointed chief executive Michael Pack said in a Aug. 1 statement.
Now owned by Advent International, Roehm GmbH has average annual sales of $2.1 billion and EBITDA of about $386 million.
The company employs 3,900 people across 15 production sites in Germany (Worms, Darmstadt, Weiterstadt, Wesseling, Hanau), China, the U.S., Russia, and South Africa.
"It is our goal to keep driving the growth of our business and to further strengthen leading market positions through investments and targeted expansion," Pack said.
Advent has also revealed plans to further invest in technologies and Roehm production sites.
"We see great potential to establish Roehm as a global market and technology leader in methacrylate chemicals," said Ronald Ayles, managing partner and global head of chemicals at Advent International. "In partnership with the management and employees, we will continue to develop Roehm through investments and expansion."
Roehm has a comprehensive portfolio of products for a wide range of applications in the automotive, electronics, and construction industries.
The company's Plexiglas-branded PMMAs are used in cars, airplane windows, screens and displays, or as building glazing.
In addition to being used as PMMA precursors, Roehm's MMAs are also used in the production of varnishes and paints, floor coatings, adhesives and other materials.
Evonik started the process to carve out its methacrylates business in July last year.
In spite of its sales of roughly $2.1 billion, Evonik defined the business as "outside the company's growth area."
In an interview in October, Ralf Duessel, general manager high-performance polymers, said the decision was made due to the business's cyclical nature, its cash-intensiveness as well as the fact that MMAs are standard chemicals, as opposed to specialty chemicals.