Ashland subsidiary Hercules Inc. has signed a definitive agreement to sell its refined wood rosin and natural wood terpenes business, Hercules Specialty Resins (formerly known as Pinova) to a new company formed by TorQuest Partners, a leading Canadian private equity fund manager, in a transaction valued at approximately $75 million before tax.
The transaction includes transfer of the business and the approximately 200 employees supporting it, along with an associated manufacturing facility in Brunswick, Ga. As the world’s only supplier of wood rosin, the business generated revenues of approximately $85 million in fiscal year 2009. Its products are used in a variety of applications in the adhesives, construction, beverage, personal care and agriculture markets. Once the transaction closes, the independent company will operate under the name Pinova.
Ashland President and CEO James O’Brien said the divestiture is part of the company’s ongoing process to focus its assets and energies on its core specialty chemicals product areas.
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