After five years of working on generating a profit in their polyethylene terephthalate (PET) business, Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) seems to have decided to abandon the sector, hiring Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) to advise them on which direction to go next with it.
In a Friday morning conference call, CEO Jim Rogers told analysts “We have hired a banker and we’re looking at alternatives,” referring to Bank of America and what direction to take.
“We’ll see what the best alternative is for Eastman in terms of whether we exit the business, sell the business, what other alternatives might be out there,” added Rogers.
It seems Eastman was giving the business once last try before making the decision, as they have already sold the Pet businesses they operated in Latin America and Europe.
What is interesting in the recent quarterly earnings report from the company was the division which the PET business resides in: the Polymer unit, sales surged by 22 percent for the quarter while volume increased 6 percent. The company didn’t break down the figures in the unit so it isn’t known what apparent drag the PET business had on it overall, but the fact they’ve hired Bank of America to deal with the unit seems to imply it had a strong, negative impact.
In last years annual investor conference Eastman said they had strong challenges in the North American PET market, based on decreasing consumer demand and competitors oversupplying the market.
