Specialty nonwovens manufacturer Fiberweb PLC, London, England, will sell the company’s hygiene business to Petropar S.A., Porto Alegre, Brazil, for $286 million. Fiberweb and Petropar are 50/50 joint partners in a joint venture, FitesaFiberweb, that produces spunmelt fabrics for hygiene applications in Brazil, Mexico and the U.S. Petropar is assuming 100 percent of the joint venture’s debt, which increases the value of the purchase to $358 million. By selling the FitesaFiberweb business, Fiberweb will be able to focus on technical fabrics and construction products markets, particularly in filtration, construction specialty, geosynthetics, agriculture and medical applications.

Source: Fiberweb