Specialized polymer materials maker Avient Corporation announced Aug. 12 that it has reached a deal to sell its distribution business to an affiliate of H.I.G. Capital for $950 million, pending regulatory approval.

It follows Cleveland, Ohio-based Avient’s April 20 announcement that it was exploring a sale of the business while acquiring DSM Protective Materials for nearly $1.5 billion, which was recently completed.

“As expected, there were multiple buyers interested in acquiring the distribution business, and it was a competitive process,” said Robert Patterson, Avient chairman, president and CEO. “Ultimately, we selected H.I.G. Capital based on the strength of their proposal, which values the business at approximately 10x LTM EBITDA and includes no financing contingencies. We are also confident that H.I.G. will make an excellent home for the Distribution business and a good partner for Avient as both a supplier and a customer.” 

The company noted that after-tax proceeds of approximately $750 million from the sale will be used to pay down near-term maturing debt. Pro forma for the sale of the Distribution business and the forthcoming acquisition of DSM’s Protective Materials business, net debt to adjusted EBITDA leverage will be approximately 2.8x at the end of the year.

“The sale of the Distribution business and acquisition of DSM Protective Materials represent the next steps in our specialty transformation that began over a decade ago,” Patterson added. “We are excited about our future as a pure play specialty formulator of sustainable solutions.”