DuPont to sell majority stake in $1.8 billion Delrin resins unit

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(Reuters) -Industrial materials maker DuPont (NYSE:DD) De Nemours said on Monday it has agreed to sell an 80.1% stake in its Delrin resins unit to private equity firm TJC, formerly known as The Jordan Company, in a deal that values the business at about $1.8 billion.

Shares of the company fell 0.4% in morning trade after the news.

Delrin, an acetal homopolymer with higher tensile strength, is a preferred substitute for metal parts and used in products ranging from gear wheels to insulin pens.

DuPont is expected to receive cash proceeds of about $1.25 billion and a note of $350 million after the deal's close, which is expected around the end of the year.

It will also own a 19.9% non-controlling interest in the unit, which the company had been looking to divest since February last year.

The deal marks another step towards CEO ED Breen's goal of doubling down on DuPont's electronics and water solutions businesses.

The company has been tweaking its portfolio to focus on high-margin operations and fast-growing industries such as electric vehicles, 5G and clean energy.

"Today's announcement largely completes our planned exit of the former M&M (Mobility and Materials) segment, advancing our position as a premier multi-industrial company," DuPont's CEO Ed Breen said in a statement.

The company sold most of its mobility and materials business to Celanese for $11 billion last year.

However, it also suffered a setback last year as Chinese regulatory hurdles forced it to scrap the $5.2 billion acquisition of engineering materials maker Rogers.

Earlier this year, peers Univar Solutions and Chase Corp had been taken private by Apollo Global Management and KKR, respectively.