Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp will completely exit its carbon products and petrochemicals businesses in the next several years as part of its effort to achieve carbon neutrality, CEO Jean-Marc Gilson said on Thursday. He noted the unit would likely first be merged with another Japanese company, then Mitsubishi Chemical will exit through a sale or IPO.
Gilson, who has been chairing the company for less than a year, said Mitsubishi would focus on areas such as materials for electric-vehicle batteries and semiconductors. The company also aims to drive future growth from specialty materials for electronics, life sciences, and healthcare. The company’s share dropped 8.1% on Thursday but remained up nearly 34% year to date. Analyst Go Miyamoto said the drop was mostly driven by the company’s plan to postpone the application for approval of its Muse cell-based regenerative medicine.
