Executives at DuPont de Nemours Inc. have reversed course on a plan to separate the company’s water treatment into a stand-alone business.
Announced last May, the proposal to carve out the division home to the Amberlite, FilmTec, Fortilife, Integraflux and TapTec brands was part of a broader plan to divide DuPont into three. (A spinoff of DuPont’s electronics division is still moving ahead and expected to be completed in November.) The water group has annual sales of about $1.5 billion and is expected to grow at a mid-single-digit pace in coming years.
In a statement, DuPoint leaders said they have “concluded the best path to generate value is for the Water business to remain in the DuPont portfolio” while also leaving the door open—as Executive Chairman Ed Breen did last year—to possibly sell the unit to a competitor.
“The decision for Water to remain with DuPont provides the new organization with greater strategic flexibility over time and another high growth business alongside Healthcare ,” CEO Lori Koch said in the statement. “We continue to have conviction in the attractive outlook for Water and expect 2025 to be a strong year for the business.”
Speaking last November after reporting third-quarter results, executives pointed to sales of water solutions as a bright spot, with ultrafiltration products and an improvement in China sales standing out. Total water sales, they reported, had risen 3% from the second quarter and were expected to grow further in late 2024.
Shares of DuPont (Ticker: DD) fell in early trading Jan. 16 after the company’s news of the evening before but recovered during the day. In the last hour of regular trading, there were flat at $76.25, valuing DuPont at nearly $32 billion.
