Air Products' (APD) Spin-Off Versum Proposes New Board
Air Products and Chemicals Inc.’s APD Electronics Materials spin-off business, Versum Materials, has announced the proposed members of the board of directors for the new company.
Versum’s board is expected to comprise a number of highly qualified professionals from other companies in the industry, with the Chairman of Air Products, Seifi Ghasemi, acting as the non-executive Chairman of Versum. The proposed CEO and President of Versum, Guillermo Novo, has worked for over 30 years within the specialty chemicals and materials industry with Rohm & Haas Company and The Dow Chemical Company.
Jacques Croisetiere has extensive experience as the former Chief Financial Officer of Rohm & Haas Company, and Bacardi Limited while Yi Hyon Paik has profound experience in the electronic materials industry and has led the electronics materials division of Rohm & Haas.
Thomas J. Riordan has worked as the chief legal and administrative officer at Rockwood Holdings for 15 years while Susan C. Schnabel has vast experience in private equity investment, having worked at DLJ Merchant Partners and co-founded aPriori Capital Partners. Finally, the name of Ambassador Alejandro Wolff, who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Chile and has over 30 years of government service experience in the Department of State, has also been proposed.
With the prospective board of Versum, the company aims to house a mix of technical, financial and international affairs experts. The company believes the board will help meet its objective of becoming a leading supplier of specialty materials in the semiconductor industry as well as enhance shareholder value. It recently filed the Form 10 Amendment with the backgrounds of the proposed board members.
AIR PRODS & CHE Price
AIR PRODS & CHE Price | AIR PRODS & CHE Quote
Shares of Air Products rose roughly 0.4% to close at $156.30 on Sep 1.
Air Products saw higher profits in the third quarter of fiscal 2016 (ended Jun 30, 2016), backed by restructuring and operational improvements. Adjusted earnings of $1.92 per share for the quarter beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate, while revenues of $2,434.4 million missed the same. The company reported double-digit EPS growth for the eighth consecutive quarter.
Revenues from the Materials Technologies business fell 4% year over year to $520 million, hurt by 2% lower pricing, 1% lower volumes and currency headwinds. Sales of Electronics Materials declined 8% due to lower volumes and unfavorable currency movement. Performance Materials’ sales were relatively flat year over year as higher volumes were offset by lower pricing resulting from lower raw material costs.
Air Products currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked companies in the chemical space include Innospec Inc. IOSP, The Chemours Company CC and Innophos Holdings Inc IPHS, all sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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