United States.
Eastman Chemical Company announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Solvay to sell its stake in the flake cellulose acetate joint venture called Primester.
Eastman and Solvay currently have equal shares in the joint venture. The transaction allows Eastman to eliminate the costs associated with overcapacity from this type of joint venture product.
Last fall Eastman completed a small capital investment to increase flake capacity at our Tennessee manufacturing facility in Kingsport," said Scott Ballard, vice president and general manager of Eastman's fiber segment. "With this expansion and with the closure last year of the Workington, UK acetate towing location, it is no longer necessary for Eastman to support Primester's fixed costs by having sufficient flake cellulose acetate capacity to reliably supply all of our towing capacity worldwide, including all of our joint ventures in Korea and China."
Eastman will continue to provide certain services, utilities and raw materials for Primester for the operation of solvay's former joint venture assets. The sale is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2016. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
Source: Eastman.
