Evonik reorganizing its Coating & Adhesive Resins and Health Care units | Plastics News

Evonik's Mobile, Ala., production site.

Evonik Industries AG is reorganizing its Coating & Adhesive Resins and Health Care units.

“Our industry is undergoing fundamental structural change worldwide,” chairman and CEO Christian Kullmann said. “We will align all our resources with our strongest businesses.”

The Coating & Adhesive Resins business will focus on liquid polybutadienes as additives for adhesives and sealants or tires and on specialty acrylics for medical technology and packaging. The business line's polyolefins business, with sales of around 100 million euros ($109 million), will be transferred to the C4 chain business at Evonik.

Officials said this change “will make even better use” of the advantages of the existing close supplier relationships of the two units based in Marl, Germany.

The polyester business for coating and adhesives is to be sold. That business employs 330 globally, including 250 at a plant in Witten, Germany. The polyester unit has annual sales of about 150 million euros ($163 million).

“The technological expertise of our polyester business is extensive,” Smart Materials head Lauren Kjeldsen said. “But to be successfully competing in the long term globally and to generate the necessary margins, investments are needed - and other companies for which polyester is a core business can realize these better than we can.”

In March, Evonik announced it would cut up to 2,000 jobs worldwide, including around 1,500 job cuts in Germany. The firm posted a loss of 465 million euros ($504 million) in 2023 as sales fell 17 percent to 15.3 billion euros (16.6 billion). The job cuts are expected to reduce costs by 400 million euros ($434 million) annually after the program's completion in 2026.

A previous version of this story incorrectly said Evonik was selling off businesses that make nylon and other specialty resins.

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