Reuters — Specialty chemicals maker DuPont is considering a sale of its nutrition and biosciences unit, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The unit, which supplies everything from soy-based food ingredients to tablet binders, could be worth at least US$20 billion as a standalone entity, Bloomberg said.
DuPont declined to comment on the unit’s divestiture.
The Wilmington, Delaware-based company said in February that its overall goal was to divest about 10 per cent of its portfolio.
DuPont was a part of DowDupont until a split earlier this year. DowDupont in June also spun off the merged company’s seed and crop protection businesses under the name Corteva, and in April spun off its materials science division under the Dow name.
The nutrition and biosciences unit, DuPont’s biggest revenue generator in 2018 on a pro-forma basis, was hit by lower sales of food, beverage and pharma solutions in the latest reported quarter, and brought in four per cent lower sales than a year earlier.
— Reporting for Reuters by Debroop Roy and Manojna Maddipatla in Bangalore.
