Bloomberg报道亚什兰(Ashland)收到收购意向后正探索出售，已与花旗和Lazard合作接触战略及PE买家

Chemical maker Ashland Inc., which reached a settlement last month with an activist investor, is exploring a potential sale after receiving takeover interest, according to people familiar with the matter.

Ashland is working with Citigroup Inc. and Lazard Inc. as it engages with both strategic and financial suitors, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

Private equity firms including Advent, Apollo Global Management Inc. and Carlyle Group Inc.are among those that have had contact with the maker of additives and specialty ingredients used in pharmaceuticals, construction and personal care, some of the people said. Standard Industries Inc., which through its investment platform Standard Investments LLC is among Ashland’s biggest shareholders, is also interested, they added.

Ashland’s deliberations are ongoing and there’s no certainty they’ll lead to a transaction, the people said. Representatives for Ashland and Standard Industries didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Advent, Apollo, Carlyle, Citigroup and Lazard declined to comment.

Shares of Wilmington, Delaware-based Ashland were little changed at $72.48 at 3:54 p.m. Friday in New York trading, giving the company a market value of $3.3 billion. The stock has gained 24% this year.

Read More: Chemical-Maker Ashland Settles With Activist Investor Ancora

Through the settlement with activist Ancora Holdings Group, Ashland agreed to add two directors to its board and said it would create a capital allocation committee that will extend until the company’s 2028 annual meeting. Cruiser Capital Advisors, another activist investor that also holds a position in Ashland, supported the board nominees Allen Spizzo and Peter Thomas.

That settlement came less than two months after Ancora said it had built a stake in Ashland and was pushing the company to sell itself. Ancora Alternatives, the activist investing arm of Ancora that’s led by Jim Chadwick, said at a conference in June that a sale could boost Ashland’s share price by at least 30%.

Specialty chemical companies like Ashland have become a hotter commodity in recent years as investors seek to tap in to plays that feed into markets including energy, power, semiconductors and artificial intelligence.

Solstice Advanced Materials Inc., the chemicals business that was spun off from Honeywell International Inc., agreed in July to acquire Element Solutions Inc. for $14.5 billion in cash and stock. Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Element makes chemicals used in semiconductor packaging materials.