W.R. Grace spinoff repackages Grace Construction Products

Sources: W.R. Grace & Co., Columbia, Md.; GCP Applied Technologies Inc., Cambridge, Mass.; CP staff

Nearly a year after management outlined a proposed split into two public companies, W.R. Grace completed the separation of its namesake business from a new entity, GCP Applied Technologies. The latter was officially formed February 3 in a distribution of GCP stock, at 1:1 ratio, to W.R. Grace shareholders. GCP Applied Technologies’ two global businesses, concrete admixture mainstay Grace Construction Products and Darex Packaging, have 2,800-plus employees in locations on six continents, and serve customers in more than 110 countries.

“As an independent company, GCP Applied Technologies will grow by focusing on quality products and services in the construction and packaging segments we serve,” says President and CEO Gregory Poling, citing as growth drivers, “a combination of new technologies, geographic expansion and complementary acquisitions that support our customers worldwide.” The day after the GCP stock issuance, he and colleagues assembled on the main trading floor balcony to ring New York Stock Exchange Opening Bell.

W.R. Grace now encompasses Catalysts Technologies and Materials Technologies operating segments. “We are as confident as ever that the separation will create value for our shareholders and sharpen strategic focus on our customers,” notes Chairman and CEO Fred Festa, acknowledging the Grace and GCP-bound employees “who worked so diligently to complete this complex process within the one year timeline we planned.”