DuPont to sell fibres business, including Canadian sites

DuPont has announced it will sell Invista, formerly DuPont Textiles & Interiors, to two subsidiaries of Koch Industries Inc. for $4.4 billion in cash. The agreement between the companies is expected to close sometime in the first half of 2004.Much of the former DuPont Canada organization (Mississauga, ON) became part of Invista in August 2003. Canadian operations in Kingston and Maitland, ON, plus the engineering polymers business, performance coatings business in Ajax, ON, and packaging and industrial polymers operations in Sarnia, ON, fall under the Invista banner. Some of these operations continue to manufacture under contract for DuPont.Invista is currently a business unit of DuPont and is the largest integrated fiber and intermediates business in the world, with 2002 revenues of $6.3 billion. The company has 18,000 employees and manufactures a number of lines of synthetic fibres under global trademark names such as Lycra, Antron, Dytek and others.”This is a major milestone in the ongoing transformation of DuPont,” said DuPont chairman and CEO Charles O. Holiday Jr. “The fibres businesses have been an important part of DuPont for many decades. However, market realities dictate they can best realize their potential as part of a company like Koch which is fully committed to Invista and the markets it serves.”Holiday said DuPont will shortly outline actions it will take to improve profitability and enhance its competitive position in world markets.