Trinseo will sell rubber business to Synthos

Abstract

Another longtime synthetic rubber producer is exiting the business. The styrenic polymer maker Trinseo has agreed to sell its synthetic rubber unit to Polish competitor Synthos for $491 million, including about $42 million in pension liabilities. The Trinseo business had sales of $320 million last year. The unit’s manufacturing, R&D, and most of its 440 employees are in Schkopau, Germany. Two-thirds of the business’s sales come from solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber (SSBR), a premium rubber used in fuel-efficient tires. Trinseo also makes emulsion styrene-butadiene rubber. The transaction is the second recent strategic move for Trinseo. Earlier this month, the US company completed the $1.4 billion purchase of Arkema’s polymethyl methacrylate business . Through the two deals, Trinseo is hoping for stronger, and more stable, profits. Synthos, which has annual sales of roughly $2 billion, makes a slate of synthetic rubbers similar to Trinseo’s. The company says the acquisition will broaden its