AlwaysFree: Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemical To Exit Petrochemical Business To Cut Carbon Footprint

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.

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