Founding and early years

Chemtura Corporation was the successor to Crompton & Knowles Corporation, which was incorporated in Massachusetts in 1900 and engaged in the manufacture and sale of specialty chemicals beginning in 1954. Crompton & Knowles traces its roots to Crompton Loom Works incorporated in the 1840s.^[7][12]

A 19th century print depicting the Crompton Loom Works

In the late 1800s, Worcester, Massachusetts was a leading manufacturing center that attracted inventors and manufacturers. Both William Crompton and Lucius J. Knowles made the city their home and opened their respective loom companies there. Both were the top loom manufacturers in the world. However each company based the method of weaving on a different premise. The companies later merged (in 1879), becoming one entity known as "Crompton & Knowles Loom Works". Still supplying the world market, the new company now applied both theories of weaving.^[12][13][14]

Meanwhile, in 1843 Charles Goodyear formed the Goodyear Metallic Rubber Shoe Company, Connecticut. A year later he patented the vulcanization of rubber. Goodyear's company then became one of nine companies that formed the founding of the United States Rubber Company in 1892 by Charles R. Flint also in Naugatuck, Connecticut. The rubber company manufactured a large array of products through two world wars, the Cold War, and became the Uniroyal company (Uniroyal Incorporated) in 1961.

In 1986, Uniroyal Chemical Company was formed as a subsidiary of Avery Inc. Then, in 1989, Uniroyal Chemical Company Investors Holding bought Uniroyal Chemical Company from Avery and became Uniroyal Chemical Corporation. In 1996, Uniroyal Chemical Corporation went public and merged with Crompton & Knowles. In 1999, Crompton & Knowles merged with Witco Corporation to form Crompton Corporation. In 2005, Crompton acquired Great Lakes Chemical Company, Inc., of West Lafayette, Indiana, to form Chemtura Corporation.^{[7][12][15][16]} Additionally, Great Lakes Chemical Corporation still existed as a subsidiary company of Chemtura.^{[5][17][18][19]} By January 2014 the company had manufactured and marketed a new brominated polymer flame retardant, replacing the traditional hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) flame retardant.^[20]

Acquisitions and DIP (2007-2012)

By the end of January 2007 Chemtura completed stock acquisition and ownership of Kaufman Holdings Corporation with an all-cash transaction.^[6][21][22]

The corporation operated as a debtor-in-possession (DIP) under the protection of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York from 10 March 2009 through 10 November 2010.^[20][23][24]

On September 26, 2012, Chemtura entered into a Business Transfer Agreement (BTA) with Solaris ChemTech Industries Limited, an Indian Company, and Avantha Holdings Limited, an Indian Company and the parent company of Solaris ChemTech. As provided in the BTA, Chemtura agreed to purchase from Solaris certain assets used in the manufacture and distribution of bromine and bromine chemicals for cash consideration of $142 million and the assumption of certain liabilities.^[20]

Acquisitions and sales (2012-2013)

In April 2013, Chemtura completed the sale of its Antioxidant business to SK Blue Holdings, Ltd, and Addivant USA Holdings Corp. for $97 million, $9 million in preferred stock issued by Addivant and the assumption by SK and Addivant of pension, environmental and other liabilities totaling approximately $91 million. Additionally, Chemtura paid $2 million in cash as part of a pre-closing adjustment.

On May 15, 2013, Chemtura purchased the remaining 50% interest in DayStar Materials L.L.C. from its joint venture partner, UP Chemical Company. As a result, DayStar became a consolidated entity. The purchase price was $3 million in cash which approximated the fair value of the remaining share of the assets and liabilities, primarily inventory and fixed assets, as of the purchase date. In addition, Chemtura reimbursed UP Chemical for a $3 million loan they had made to DayStar.^[20]

In December 2013, Chemtura completed sale of its Consumer Products business, including dedicated manufacturing plants in the United States and South Africa, to KIK Custom Products Inc. for $300 million and the assumption by KIK of pension and other liabilities totaling approximately $8 million.^[20]

Recent developments (2014-2017)

On April 16, 2014, Chemtura entered into a "Stock and Asset Purchase Agreement" to sell its Chemtura AgroSolutions business, led by President and GM Nelson Gibson, to Platform Specialty Products Corporation for approximately $1 billion, consisting of $950 million in cash and 2 million shares of Platform's common stock. The sale became final on November 3, 2014.^[20][25][26] For the year ended December 31, 2015, the company's global core segment revenue was $1.61 billion.^[1][3]

On September 25, 2016, Chemtura announced they had accepted an offer from Lanxess AG of Germany of 33.50 per share,^[27][28] all cash.^[29] The boards of both companies unanimously approved the deal that September, with Chemtura's enterprise value estimated at US$2.7 billion.^[30] After US antitrust authorities approved the deal in December 2016, Chemtura shareholders approved the acquisition in February 2017.^[31][32] On April 21, 2017, Chemtura was officially acquired by Lanxess for $2.1 billion in cash.^[10] It was the largest acquisition in Lanxess' history, with Lanxess absorbing around 2,500 Chemtura employees at 20 sites in 11 countries.^[11]

Business segments

The company had two reporting segments: Industrial Performance Products, including the Petroleum Additives and Urethanes businesses; Industrial Engineered Products comprised the Great Lakes Solutions and Organometallic Specialties businesses.^[33]