Japanese petroleum company Eneos Corporation has signed an agreement with Japanese synthetic rubber manufacturer JSR Corporation to acquire the latter’s elastomers business, which includes the manufacture and sale of synthetic rubber. JSR, whose main product is solution polymerisation styrene-butadiene rubber (SSBR) provides materials for the tyre sector to produce fuel-efficient and high-performance tyres.
JSR will establish a new company, Japan Synthetic Rubber Spin-off Preparation Co, which will be headquartered in Tokyo. JSR will also transfer the elastomers business and the shares of subsidiaries and affiliates related to this business to the new company by splitting the company. After that, Eneos is expected to acquire all the shares of the new company and make it a wholly-owned subsidiary on April 1, 2022.
In a press statement released by Eneos, it said that the 115 billion yen agreed to between the two companies through consultation with advisors, various price adjustment items should be considered to get the intrinsic purchase price of the business. The equity purchase price will be determined from the intrinsic purchase price by considering the net interest-bearing debt, working capital, as well as other assets and liabilities at the time of completion of the acquisition. In addition, JSR has implemented structural reforms including cost reductions, such as rationalisation of raw materials and distribution costs, and optimisation of selling prices. The acquisition is based on the premise that such structural reforms, expected to result in cost reductions of approximately JPY 6 billion, are completed
In the 2040 long-term vision, Eneos positions the high-performance materials business as a growth business for developing and strengthening our technological capabilities. By acquiring technology in new core areas for our materials business, Eneos expects to provide high-performance materials that support various industries including the mobility industry.