Trinseo pauses the sales process of its styrenics business

Citing “the deterioration of financing markets and the economic uncertainty created by the war in Ukraine,” specialty material supplier Trinseo has decided to pause the sale of its styrenics business.

In November 2021, the Berwyn, Pa.-based company announced that it had begun work to explore the divestiture of the business and subsequently launched a formal sales process in the first quarter of 2022. The scope of the potential divestiture was expected to include the feedstocks and polystyrene reporting segments as well as the company’s 50 per cent ownership of Americas Styrenics LLC.

“While the separation of the styrenics business is part of our transformation strategy, the current economic and financing environments make it challenging to get a value for the assets that is reflective of their significant cash generation, and therefore, we have decided to pause the sale process,” Trinseo president and CEO Frank Bozich said in a July 26 news release. “In the meantime, we will utilize the cash generation of the styrenics and other businesses to invest in organic growth projects, increase our sustainable product offerings, decrease our CO2 footprint and return cash to shareholders.”

The company intends to reevaluate a potential sale of the business when “macroeconomic conditions improve,” the release added.