Chemours spun-off from DuPont; starts trading on NYSE

US-based The Chemours Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of DuPont, marked its planned spin-off from DuPont by ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on 29 June 2015. Chemours stock started trading on 1 July.

Said Mark Newman, Chief Financial Officer, “Chemours comes to market as a leader in titanium technologies, fluoroproducts, and chemical solutions. Created by the spin-off of the DuPont performance chemicals businesses, Chemours has combined revenues of more than US$6 billion. We work with customers to make cars cooler, homes warmer, food fresher, colors bolder. We're changing what a chemistry company can be, and can do, by working with customers in every part of the world to meet rising demand for better things and better lives.”

"We think of Chemours as a 200-hundred-year-old start-up," said Mark Vergnano, President/CEO of Chemours. "We bring to the market a rich heritage based on our DuPont legacy and built on industry leadership and innovation adding the energy and agility of a customer-centered, global business fresh out of the starting gate. Our businesses are already known for pioneering application development and world-class product stewardship and safety. Our workforce is among the best in the industry; they bring years of experience, deep chemistry expertise, and outstanding engineering knowledge to our more than 5,000 customers across the globe.”

DuPont had announced the spin-off of its performance chemicals business in 2013 http://www.plasticsandrubberasia.com/jan2015/company4.html, as part of its strategy to focus on biotechnology, agriculture, electronic materials, and other high growth areas. DuPont, earlier in 2013, also sold its performance coatings business to equity firm Carlyle Group, for US$4.9 billion in cash. Moreover, the company put up its glass laminating solutions and vinyl business, a part of its Packaging & Industrial Polymers unit, for sale in November 2013.

Back then, the US chemicals maker, by far the largest in the US by market value, was under pressure to split the businesses because of slow growth and volatile earnings, and possibly after activist investor Nelson Peltz bought a reportedly 0.6% stake in DuPont, through his hedge fund, Trian Fund Management LP.

The decision to spin off rather than sell the performance chemicals division was to expedite the separation by cutting out potentially protracted negotiations with buyers, and to avoid the tax charge that would have been created by a sale, say analysts familiar with the deal.

Chemours’s flagship products include brands such as Teflon, Ti-Pure, Krytox, Viton, Opteon and Nafion. It has approximately 9,000 employees across 37 manufacturing sites serving more than 5,000 customers in North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. It is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware.