Wichita, KS, Nov. 18--Koch Industries completed a $4.4 billion acquisition Monday with an agreement to acquire Invista, formerly DuPont Textiles and Interiors, according to the Wichita Eagle.
The cash transaction is the largest single acquisition in Koch history.
The Wichita-based business giant, the nation's second-largest privately held company, also announced that it has completed a deal for the Alaska assets of Williams Co., a $265 million transaction that will give it a refinery, two terminals and a share of the Trans Alaska Pipeline.
Both deals are subject to government approvals and are expected to close in the first quarter of 2004. Both come near the end of a year of rapid growth for Koch, which also acquired Colonial Pipeline, Farmland Fertilizer and Excel Paralubes.
And the growth mode is not over with the deals announced Monday. Koch president and chief operating officer Joe Moeller earlier described the Koch "deal pipeline" as "full and moving fast."
After hundreds of layoffs only a few years ago, Koch has completed a restructuring that has poised virtually all of its subsidiaries for growth. Koch employs about 1,850 people at its Wichita headquarters and has about 15,000 employees in 30 countries.
Koch does not release revenue or earnings numbers, but Forbes Magazine's list of the largest privately held companies ranks it second with revenues of $40 billion annually.
The acquisition of Invista brings such well-known brand names as Lycra, Stainmaster, Antron, Coolmax, Thermolite, Condura, Supplex, Tactel, Corfree, Dytek, Adi-Pure and Terathane under the Koch umbrella.
Invista has 50 manufacturing plants in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Georgia, Virginia, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Singapore. In addition, it has joint ventures for marketing or manufacturing in Europe, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
Invista chief executive officer Steve McCracken was in Wichita on Monday, meeting with Koch officials on the details of the acquisition.
Invista has annual revenues of about $6 billion and 18,000 employees worldwide.
"It was not appropriate to discuss things like headquarters location, structure of the new company and so forth before we completed negotiations," said Koch spokeswoman Mary Beth Jarvis. "Now we can begin to talk about those things and work out details."
Invista has its headquarters in Wilmington, DE. KoSa has international headquarters in Houston and U.S. headquarters in Charlotte, NC. How the acquisition will work out at all three sites is still being discussed.
"The acquisition (of Invista) is an excellent fit with our capabilities and vision for long-term growth," Charles Koch, chairman and chief executive officer of Koch Industries, said in a statement. "By combining Invista's many capabilities and strong brands with the polyester business of our KoSa subsidiaries, we will create a diverse company, well-positioned to compete in the global fibers and resins markets."
The Koch subsidiaries involved in the purchase are KED Fiber Ltd. and KED Fiber LLC. At the close of the deal, Invista becomes a wholly owned Koch subsidiary and will include all operations of Invista and KoSa.
Koch is the largest U.S. producer of the petrochemicals used to manufacture polyester. It purchased half of KoSa from Hoechst, a German company, in 1998. In 2001, Koch bought all of KoSa.
