The Oerlikon Group has signed an agreement with the Jinsheng Group of China to divest the Natural Fibers and Textile Components Business Units from its Textile Segment. The divestment reduces the group’s overall exposure to the textile industry.

Oerlikon’s Textile Segment will focus on the manmade fiber business, a high performing segment with less cyclicality the company says. The transaction is based on an enterprise value of around CHF 650 million and is expected to close in Q3 2013.

”This transaction is a further milestone in balancing the Oerlikon portfolio,” says Oerlikon CEO Michael Buscher. “It significantly reduces our overall exposure to the textile industry and allows us to focus on the less cyclical, higher margin manmade fibers business, which will deliver sustainable benefit to our shareholders, customers and employees.”

The divestment of the Natural Fibers and Textile Components business units considerably reduces Oerlikon Group’s exposure to the global textile business, while retaining and building on its position as a leader in the manmade fibers segment. With sales of CHF 2.0 billion in 2011, the Textile Segment represented 53% of total group sales (excluding the recently divested Solar business). The business units being sold accounted for sales of CHF 1.1 billion in 2011 and employ around 3800 employees. After the divestment, the share of revenues from the textile sector will be around 33% of total group sales.

Oerlikon will continue to develop its position in the growing manmade fiber market. The global manmade fiber market has experienced a compounded annual growth rate of about 5% for the past five years. New industrial applications in the automotive industry and construction provide further growth potential in addition to the ongoing substitution of natural fiber in the apparel industry worldwide. Oerlikon’s Manmade Fibers business unit with its brands Oerlikon Barmag and Oerlikon Neumag is a leading supplier for innovative solutions for chemical fiber production that meets requirements for productivity, quality and lower conversion costs. In addition to filaments and staples solutions it also offers solutions for Nonwoven and BCF carpet yarn technology.