DALLAS & FRANKFURT, Sept 1 — Celanese Corporation (NYSE: CE), a global chemical and specialty materials company, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement with Mitsui & Co., Ltd., to sell an additional 19% of the Nutrinova food ingredients business to Mitsui in a transaction with total cash proceeds of approximately $152 million. The transaction represents an attractive realization of value for Celanese, monetizing an ownership interest that represented approximately $4 million of equity earnings in 2025. This transaction contributes to Celanese’s deleveraging plans, while also allowing the Company to retain an 11% interest in the JV, enabling it to continue participating in a leading food ingredients business. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.
“We are pleased to have monetized an additional 19% of the Nutrinova joint venture and taken another step towards our goal of achieving $1 billion in divestiture proceeds by the end of 2027. Transaction proceeds will immediately work to reduce our net debt as part of our deleveraging plan, and we intend to use them to pay down upcoming debt maturities,” said Scott Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer.
In connection with this transaction, Celanese has agreed to own and operate a diketene production facility for a transitional period before being transferred to Nutrinova. This facility is co-located with, and supplies raw materials to, the Nutrinova facility in the Industriepark Höchst in Frankfurt, Germany, a chemical park where several critical Celanese manufacturing assets are situated. Nutrinova is partnering with Celanese based on its extensive experience operating complex chemical manufacturing assets. In addition to the approximately $152 million received in connection with the sale of the JV interests, Nutrinova is providing Celanese with the entirety of the production facility’s purchase price as well as all future cash required to cover the unit’s ongoing operating costs. Celanese is not obligated to provide any funding in connection with this unit, but will contribute the expertise of its process chemists, operators and maintenance professionals to safely and reliably operate the asset.
“The Nutrinova business has historically sourced these key inputs from external producers. When the opportunity arose to bring this production in-house, we were glad to be able to build upon our long-term strategic partnership with Mitsui and enable Nutrinova to achieve meaningful security of supply,” said Mr. Richardson. “We will continue to look for ways to strengthen our strategic partnerships while aggressively looking for opportunities to prudently deleverage the balance sheet.”
Celanese is advised in this transaction by Linklaters, LLP as legal counsel and A&O Shearman as tax counsel. This transaction is subject to customary legal and regulatory closing conditions.