Xylem Inc. Shows Takeover Interest In DuPont Water Unit

The water treatment business of DuPont De Nemours Inc., which the US chemicals group happens to be planning to spin out, happens to be drawing a separate interest in a takeover from certain potential and probable industry buyers.

It is well to be noted that Veralto Corp. and Xylem Inc. happen to be among the probable suitors that happen to be in the early stages of assessing DuPont Water Solutions business.

Interestingly, in May 2024, DuPont said that it is going to be separating its electronics as well as water units by way of tax-free transactions, and the process is anticipated to be finished in a couple of years, thereby creating a trio of publicly traded businesses. Notably, the water business of DuPont may get a valuation of around $6 billion or even more, which also includes debt in any sale.

DuPont shares saw a rise of almost 3.1% on June 24, with the stock being up 1.8% in New York at around 3.21 p.m., thereby giving the company a market value of almost $34 billion.

There are deliberations that are ongoing, and there is indeed a level of uncertainty that Xylem or Veralto are going to decide to go behind any offers for the asset from DuPont. In one of the investor update calls in May 2024, Edward Breen, DuPont’s chairman, went on to confirm that the company wasn’t going ahead and running a formal M&A process when it came to the water unit.

It is interesting to note that DuPont Water Solutions happens to offer services that make the water safe to drink and, at the same time, works with companies throughout a range of sectors on making their usage of water more sustainable as well as efficient. The business went on to generate revenue of almost $1.5 billion in 2023, as per the annual report of the company, which, by the way, was broadly flat in 2022.

So as to split itself up. DuPont happens to add its name to an enlarged list of industrial conglomerates such as J&J, GE, thereby looking to boost returns by breaking into much smaller and more focused businesses. Significantly, DuPont has already gone on to spin out major business lines since the time its merger with Dow Chemical took place almost ten years back.