By Frank Esposito
SENIOR STAFF REPORTER
Published: December 2, 2013 11:42 am ET
Updated: December 2, 2013 6:28 pm ET
Image By: Dow Chemical Co.
Andrew Liveris
Dow Chemical Co. is spinning off what it calls "a significant portion" of its chlorine value chain, including its global epoxy business and units that make feedstocks used in PVC production.
The businesses to be spun off have annual sales of about $5 billion and employ almost 2,000 at 11 manufacturing sites worldwide. The assets "are being carved out for future transactions," officials with Midland, Mich.-based Dow said in a Dec. 2 news release.
"These businesses have served us well over decades, but are serving markets that Dow has exited over time," Dow Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris said in the release. "We are therefore right-sizing our upstream integration to match the downstream focus that we started a decade ago."
Dow's epoxy business includes plants in Freeport, Texas, and Roberta, Ga.; as well as four plants in Europe, two in Asia and one in Brazil. The spin-off also includes the firm's chlor-alkali, chlor-vinyl, chlorinated organics and brine operations.
In October, Dow sold its polypropylene licensing and catalyst business to W.R. Grace & Co. for $500 million. That sale included a PP catalyst plant in Norco, La. Dow earlier this year also said it wanted to sell its plastics additives business — which has annual sales of about $600 million — but later took that unit off the market after receiving inadequate offers.
Dow ranks as one of the world's largest plastics and chemicals makers. The firm employs 54,000 worldwide and posted sales of about $57 billion in 2012. | 
