A South Korean group of chemical companies that includes KCC (Seoul; www.kccworld.co.kr) is to acquire Momentive Performance Materials (Waterford, New York / USA; www.momentive.com) for USD 3.1 bn (EUR 2.7 bn). The US company is a specialist for protective coatings, silicone elastomers, PU additives, adhesives and resins. It operates more than 50 production and sales locations worldwide, including in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK. Its customers are primarily in the automotive sector.

The other two companies in the consortium of buyers are Wonik QnC (Gumi / South Korea; www.wonikqnc.com), a producer of quartz and ceramics used in the production of semiconductor wafers, and SJL Partners (Seoul; www.sjlpartners.com).

In fiscal 2017, Momentive recorded revenue of USD 2.3 bn, up from USD 2.2 bn the year before. After a loss of USD 161m in 2016, the company was in the black in 2017. The transaction includes net debt, as well as pension and other liabilities.