DuPont Acquires Laird Performance Materials For $2.3B

DuPont de Nemours Inc DD is paying $2.3 billion to acquire Laird Performance Materials from the private equity firm Advent International.

What Happened: Advent International acquired Laird Performance Materials' parent company, the British-based Laird plc, in 2018 for $1.3 billion. The company was subsequently divided into three separate entities: Performance Materials, Connectivity and Thermal Services.

The Shanghai-headquartered Laird Performance Materials is a manufacturer of electromagnetic shielding and thermal management components and solutions that manage heat and protect devices from electromagnetic interference.

The company recorded $465 million in 2020 revenues and has a 4,300-person workforce spanning 11 manufacturing sites in North America, Europe and Asia.

"Laird Performance Materials is a strategic and complementary addition to the Electronics & Industrial business," said Ed Breen, executive chairman and CEO at Wilmington, Delaware-based DuPont, "and our applied material science expertise together with Laird Performance Materials' industry-leading application engineering capabilities further strengthens DuPont as an essential partner for major electronics OEMs and manufacturers,"

What Else Happened: Separate from the acquisition, DuPont's board of directors approved a new $1.5 billion share buyback program which expires on June 30. According to the company, shares of its common stock "may be repurchased periodically in the open market or privately negotiated transactions."

Photo courtesy Laird Performance Materials.