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The Carlyle Group is considering selling Dutch salt and chemicals producer Nobian for €3 billion, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Nobian, owned by Carlyle and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, produces high-purity salt, chlorine and other specialty chemicals for use in applications such as solar panels, battery storage systems and insulation.
The U.S. buyout group has been in discussions with investment banks as it prepares for a potential sale process, which is expected to begin next year, the people said. Carlyle, GIC and Nobian declined to comment.
Carlyle and GIC acquired the salt producer in 2018, when they bought the chemicals division of Dutch conglomerate Akzo Nobel for €10.1 billion, in what remains Carlyle’s largest European deal.
The partners renamed Akzo Nobel’s chemicals division Nouryon, then spun off Nobian in 2021.
Last year, Nobian made earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of about 400 million euros, the sources said.
Under CEO Michael Koenig, Nobian has set a goal of reducing its direct carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2040, while converting its energy-intensive mining and processing operations to wind and solar power.
Nobian is one of the largest emitters in the Netherlands and last year signed an agreement with the Dutch government to work together to reduce its carbon emissions more rapidly.
Carlyle has not hesitated to invest in energy-intensive European companies that need to decarbonize.
In 2019, it acquired 37 percent of Spanish oil and gas integrated company Cepsa. In June, it purchased a portfolio of oil and gas projects in Italy, Egypt and Croatia that will form the basis of a new Mediterranean-focused producer.
In any case, Carlyle requires portfolio companies to set emissions reduction targets in line with the goals of the Paris climate agreement.
Carlyle is partly betting that by reducing emissions, its companies will become more valuable when the fund exits.
“That’s part of our investment thesis,” Megan Starr, Carlyle’s global head of corporate affairs, told the Financial Times in June. “What is the maximum feasible decarbonization potential that we can implement and execute during our hold period.”
While the primary uses of Nobian salt chemicals remain in everyday products such as textiles, pharmaceuticals and disinfectants, they are also essential for clean energy solutions such as electric vehicle batteries and wind turbines.
The company has been mining salt in the Netherlands since 1918 and is also exploring the possibility of using underground salt caverns to store hydrogen, natural gas and renewable energy in the form of compressed air.
Nobian has production facilities in the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark and employs approximately 1,600 people.
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