CLEVELAND, Aug. 12,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Avient Corporation (NYSE: AVNT),
a leading global provider of sustainable and specialized material
solutions, today announced it has entered into a definitive
agreement to sell its Distribution business to an affiliate of
H.I.G. Capital for $950 million in
cash, subject to regulatory approval.
On April 20, 2022, the company
announced it was exploring a sale of its Distribution business, in
connection with announcing an agreement to acquire the Protective
Materials business of DSM. The company recently completed that
process, culminating in today's announcement.
"As expected, there were multiple buyers interested in acquiring
the Distribution business, and it was a competitive process," said
Robert M. Patterson, Chairman,
President and Chief Executive Officer, Avient Corporation.
"Ultimately, we selected H.I.G. Capital based on the strength of
their proposal, which values the business at approximately 10x LTM
EBITDA and includes no financing contingencies. We are also
confident that H.I.G. will make an excellent home for the
Distribution business and a good partner for Avient as both a
supplier and a customer."
The company noted that after-tax proceeds of approximately
$750 million from the sale will be
used to pay down near-term maturing debt. Pro forma for the sale of
the Distribution business and the forthcoming acquisition of DSM's
Protective Materials business, net debt to adjusted EBITDA leverage
will be approximately 2.8x at the end of the year.
Mr. Patterson added, "The sale of the Distribution business and
acquisition of DSM Protective Materials represent the next steps in
our specialty transformation that began over a decade ago. We are
excited about our future as a pure play specialty formulator of
sustainable solutions."
In accordance with US GAAP, the company expects the Distribution
business will be classified as "held for sale" and reported as a
discontinued operation in future filings.
The company noted that Moelis & Company LLC and Goldman
Sachs served as financial advisors to Avient. Jones Day served as outside legal counsel. The
sale is subject to satisfaction of regulatory requirements and
other customary closing conditions.
About Avient
Avient Corporation (NYSE: AVNT) provides specialized and
sustainable material solutions that transform customer challenges
into opportunities, bringing new products to life for a better
world. Examples include:
- Unique technologies that improve the recyclability of
products and enable recycled content to be incorporated, thus
advancing a more circular economy
- Light-weighting solutions that replace heavier
traditional materials like metal, glass and wood, which can improve
fuel efficiency in all modes of transportation and reduce carbon
footprint
- Sustainable infrastructure solutions that increase energy
efficiency, renewable energy, natural resource conservation and
fiber optic / 5G network accessibility
Avient employs approximately 8,800 associates and is certified
ACC Responsible Care®, a founding member of the Alliance to End
Plastic Waste and certified Great Place to Work®. For more
information, visit www.avient.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
In this press release, statements that are not reported
financial results or other historical information are "forward
looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements give
current expectations or forecasts of future events and are not
guarantees of future performance. They are based on management's
expectations that involve a number of business risks and
uncertainties, any of which could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expressed in or implied by the
forward-looking statements. They use words such as "will,"
"anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "plan,"
"believe," and other words and terms of similar meaning in
connection with any discussion of future operating or financial
condition, performance and/or sales. Factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those implied by these
forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:
disruptions, uncertainty or volatility in the credit markets that
could adversely impact the availability of credit already arranged
and the availability and cost of credit in the future; the effect
on foreign operations of currency fluctuations, tariffs and other
political, economic and regulatory risks, including recessionary
conditions; the current and potential future impact of the COVID-19
pandemic on our business, results of operations, financial position
or cash flows, including without limitation, any supply chain and
logistics issues; changes in polymer consumption growth rates and
laws and regulations regarding plastics in jurisdictions where we
conduct business; fluctuations in raw material prices, quality and
supply, and in energy prices and supply; production outages or
material costs associated with scheduled or unscheduled maintenance
programs; unanticipated developments that could occur with respect
to contingencies such as litigation and environmental matters; our
ability to pay regular quarterly cash dividends and the amounts and
timing of any future dividends; information systems failures and
cyberattacks; amounts for cash and non-cash charges related to
restructuring plans that may differ from original estimates,
including because of timing changes associated with the underlying
actions; any material adverse changes in the business supporting
the Distribution assets being sold; the ability to obtain required
regulatory or other third-party approvals and consents and
otherwise consummate the proposed sale of the Distribution
business; any material adverse changes in the Protective Materials
Business proposed to be acquired from Royal DSM ("DSM"); our
ability to achieve the strategic and other objectives relating to
the proposed acquisition of the DSM Protective Materials business
and the proposed sale of the Distribution business; and other
factors described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2021 under Item
1A, "Risk Factors." The above list of factors is not
exhaustive.
We undertake no obligation to publicly update forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise. You are advised to consult any further disclosures we
make on related subjects in our reports on Form 10-Q, 8-K and 10-K
that we provide to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Non-GAAP Reconciliation
The Company does not provide reconciliations of forward-looking
non-GAAP financial measures, such as outlook for net debt to
adjusted EBITDA leverage, to the most comparable GAAP financial
measures on a forward-looking basis because the Company is unable
to provide a meaningful or accurate calculation or estimation of
reconciling items and the information is not available without
unreasonable effort. This is due to the inherent difficulty of
forecasting the timing and amount of certain items, such as, but
not limited to, restructuring costs, environmental remediation
costs, acquisition-related costs, and other non-routine costs. Each
of such adjustments has not yet occurred, are out of the Company's
control and/or cannot be reasonably predicted. For the same
reasons, the Company is unable to address the probable significance
of the unavailable information.
To access Avient's news library online, please visit
www.avient.com/news
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