Investment company SK Capital Partners (New York, New York / USA; www.skcapitalpartners.com) will be taking over the remaining shares in Venator (Stockton-on-Tees / UK; www.venatorcorp.com) that are currently still held by Huntsman (The Woodlands, Texas / USA; www.huntsman.com). Since the sale of 4% of the share package to Bank of America in 2018, Huntsman has still held approximately 49% of the titanium dioxide manufacturer’s shares. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Huntsman will initially part with 39.8% of the shares for around USD 100m (EUR 84m). SK will also receive a 30-month option to acquire most of the remaining 9% for a little over USD 20m. According to CEO Peter Huntsman, Huntsman intends to use the proceeds for additional financial flexibility and further growth. In 2017, Huntsman's Pigments and Additives division launched an IPO and registered Venator on the New York Stock Exchange (see Plasteurope.com of 26.07.2017).

The portfolio of SK Capital currently includes several companies in the specialty chemicals industry, including

• polyamide producer Ascend Performance Materials (Houston, Texas / USA; www.ascendmaterials.com)
• masterbatch specialist PM (Clinton, Tennessee / USA; www.techmerpm.com)
• butadiene producer TPC Group (Houston, Texas / USA; www.tpcgrp.com)
• SI Group (Schenectady, New York / USA; www.siigroup.com)
• PVC compounder Geon Performance Polymers (Westlake, Ohio / USA; www.geon.com), which belonged to PolyOne – today's Avient – until 2019.