Carlyle is reviewing the €3bn sale of Dutch salt and chemicals maker Nobian

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Carlyle Group is exploring a €3 billion sale of Dutch salt and chemicals maker Nobian, according to people familiar with the matter.

Nobian, owned by Carlyle and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, produces high-purity salt, chlorine and other specialty chemicals for use in applications including solar panels, battery storage systems and insulation.

The U.S. buyout group has been in talks with investment banks as it prepares for a potential sale process, which is expected to start next year, the people said. Carlyle, GIC and Nobian declined to comment.

Carlyle and GIC acquired the salt producer in 2018 when they bought the chemicals division of Dutch conglomerate Akzo Nobel for 10.1 billion euros, in what remains Carlyle’s biggest European deal.

The partners renamed the chemical arm Akzo Nobel Nouryon and then disappeared Nobian in 2021.

Last year, Nobian made earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of about 400 million euros, the people said.

Under the leadership of Chief Executive Michael Koenig, Nobian has set goals to reduce its direct carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 and 100% by 2040, while transitioning energy-intensive mining and processing activities to wind power and solar.

Nobian is among the biggest industrial emitters in the Netherlands and last year signed an agreement with the Dutch government to work together to reduce its carbon emissions faster.

Carlyle has not shied away from investing in energy-intensive European businesses that need to decarbonize.

In 2019, it acquired 37% of the integrated Spanish oil and gas company Cepsa. In June, it bought a portfolio of oil and gas projects in Italy, Egypt and Croatia that will form the basis of a new Mediterranean-focused producer.

In each case, Carlyle requires portfolio companies to set emission reduction targets in line with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.

Part of Carlyle’s bet is that by cutting emissions, his companies will be more valuable when the fund has to exit.

“It’s part of our investment thesis,” Megan Starr, Carlyle’s global head of corporate affairs, told the Financial Times in June. “What is the maximum feasible decarbonisation potential that we can implement and execute in the holding period.”

While the main uses for Nobian’s salt-based chemicals remain everyday products such as textiles, pharmaceuticals and disinfectants, they are also vital for clean energy solutions such as batteries for electric vehicles and wind turbines.

The company has mined salt in the Netherlands since 1918 and is also exploring the use of underground salt caverns to store hydrogen, natural gas and renewable energy in the form of compressed air.

Nobian has production facilities in the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark and employs approximately 1,600 people.