Croda shares increased 0.6% to 6,512p in late morning trading on Friday after the group announced its completed divestment of its Performance Technologies and Industrial Chemicals businesses to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cargill.
Croda reported the gross proceeds from the transaction would be approximately £667 million, subject to small adjustments for cash, working capital and debt-like instruments.
The group commented the divestment and the associated proceeds excluded Croda Sipo, a Chinese joint-venture in which Croda holds a 65% stake.
The firm highlighted its continued discussions with its joint-venture partner regarding the acquisition of its holding in Sipo in order to complete a subsequent sale by Croda to Cargill of 100% of the group for a total price of €140m.
“This divestment accelerates Croda’s transition to being a pure-play Consumer Care and Life Sciences company” said Croda CEO Steve Foots.
“We will redeploy capital and resources to scale our consumer, health and crop care technologies, helping to deliver consistent, superior sales growth and even stronger profit margins.”