October 25, 2007 – Weeks after selling its photoresist developer line to Fujifilm, Air Products has shed another part of its business, this time its high-purity process chemicals (HPPC) unit to Houston-based KMG Chemicals.

Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed, but Air Products said in a statement it includes a production facility and warehouse in Pueblo, CO, and assets in San Giuliano Milanese, Italy, with “essentially all” of the ~165 employees at both sites expected to remain. Air Products’ multipurpose facility in Dallas, TX, makes some HPPC products as well as others for the company’s electronics business, and is not part of the sale.

The HPPC unit was part of Air Products’ 2003 purchase of Ashland Specialty Chemical Co.’s electronic chemicals business, encompassing blends of acids and solvents used in semiconductor etch and clean processes, typically in chemical baths and spray-on devices. HPPC sales added up to ~$87M for the 12 months ended in Sept., roughly 1% of total company sales.

This sale represents the end of Air Products restructuring efforts to focus on its core electronic gases, chemicals and equipment, explained Corning Painter, the company’s VP of electronics, in a statement. Mike Hilton, SVP and GM of Air Products’ electronics and performance materials division, added that the deal “illustrates how Air Products is “managing our portfolio and simplifying our business […] to better focus on the products where we can provide the most value to our customers.”