Stahl, the global leader in speciality coatings for flexible materials, announced that it will complete the carve-out of its wet-end business independently, and will no longer proceed with the sale to Syntagma Capital.
The intention to divest was announced on 18 November 2024, as part of Stahl's strategic redirection towards a pure-play speciality coatings and finishes provider. An agreement was made with European investment firm Syntagma Capital to acquire the wet-end division once the carve-out from Stahl was completed.
Negative current market conditions have impacted the performance of the business and made the sales terms less favourable for Stahl, allowing the company not to close the transaction. As such, Stahl and Syntagma Capital have together agreed to exit the agreement.
Stahl will continue the carve-out of the wet-end leather business to create a fully independent company, led by CEO Xavier Rafols, under a new brand: Muno. Its leather experts will continue to provide innovative solutions to customers globally.
In recent years, Stahl has made a deliberate strategic shift towards a pure-play speciality coatings formulator. The separation of its wet-end leather
chemicals business will allow the company to sharpen its focus on speciality coatings
for flexible materials, extending its expertise beyond leather finishing into high-growth segments such as performance coatings and packaging coatings.
"At Stahl, we will focus to strengthen our leadership in coatings for flexible materials. We believe in shaping a better world through responsible innovation. The carve-out is expected to be completed within the next few months, at which point both businesses will operate as two fully independent companies”. Maarten Heijbroek, CEO of Stahl, has said.
“Separating global companies is a huge undertaking and I would like to thank everyone involved for their contributions,” Heijbroek has concluded.