SK Geo Centric Co. has begun approaching foreign petrochemical companies to sell overseas assets it acquired from Dow Chemical Co. and France’s Arkema SA, as parent SK Group accelerates efforts to raise capital through asset disposals, according to investment banking sources.
The SK Innovation Co. unit is marketing its functional polyolefin business purchased from Arkema for 440 billion won ($317 million) in 2020, along with ethylene acrylic acid and polyvinylidene chloride operations acquired from Dow for 476.7 billion won ($445 million) in 2017. The combined portfolio targets packaging, electronics, and coatings markets.
The potential divestiture represents a reversal of SK’s earlier international expansion strategy, which aimed to transform the company into a global specialty chemicals player. The acquisitions were positioned as moves to diversify beyond commodity petrochemicals into higher-margin products.
SK Geo is simultaneously exploring the sale of its naphtha cracking facility in Ulsan to Korea Petro Chemical Ind. Co., investment banking sources reported. These moves align with government pressure on domestic petrochemical companies to reduce naphtha cracking capacity by up to 25% to address industry overcapacity.
The restructuring reflects broader challenges facing South Korean petrochemical companies, including prolonged sector weakness and supply glut pressures from Chinese and Middle Eastern competitors.
