Evonik sells site to ICIG

Evonik has agreed to sell its site at Niederkassel-Lülsdorf, Germany, and the associated cyanuric chloride business at Wesseling to International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG). Terms were not disclosed and the deal is scheduled to close in mid-2023, subject to regulatory clearance and approval by the competent Evonik committees. The businesses being divested had sales of around €260 million in 2022.

This is part of the planned exit sale of the non-core Performance Materials division. Lülsdorf is described as a “substantial part” of the Functional Solutions business line, one of three within the division. The 600+ employees will all transfer to ICIG, which owns WeylChem among other businesses. It has subsidiaries active in chlorine chemistry and speciality chemicals and wants to expand the businesses.

Evonik is retaining the alkoxides business for biodiesel, which are produced at two further sites. This business is now integrated into the Catalysts business line in the Smart Materials division.

ICIG will produce alkoxides at Lülsdorf exclusively for Evonik until 2027. This also means that plans made by another potential investor to produce ethylene oxide there, something that raised public concern, have been abandoned. Instead, ICIG intends to invest in facilities for renewable energies as well as further investment in production at Lülsdorf.