We talk about portfolio remakes in today's daily, and would reference the Trinseo plans discussed earlier this week and the Huntsman moves over the last several years. We also see similar moves at Arkema, highlighted in its release today, and at Westlake with its building products push. On a larger scale, we have both the DuPont plans announced earlier this month (and highlighted in the exhibit below) and the GE announcement this week. As more clarity emerges around what investors want from an ESG perspective, we may see further portfolio shifts driven by the opportunity to separate an ESG friendly higher multiple stand-alone companies. We think this opportunity will exist for both DuPont and GE over time. The opportunity is less obvious for the broader chemical group, although there may be value in divesting what are bad ESG pieces, and on the flip side, there may be an opportunity to be a gatherer of these assets – at low prices, driving value from synergies and cash return to shareholders, although these may do better in private hands than public.
Source: DuPont 3Q21 Earnings Release Presentation, November 2021
