Trinseo's precursor Styron was formed in August 2009 when
Dow Chemical Company combined several of its businesses--
styrenics;
polycarbonate and compounds & blends; Dow Automotive plastics;
emulsion polymers (paper and carpet latex); and
synthetic rubber — as part of a larger process of identifying and selling non-strategic assets. Several private equity firms bid on Styron, including
TPG Capital,
Apollo Management, and
Lotte Group. On March 2, 2010, Bain Capital announced that it would purchase the newly formed company for $1.63 billion, with Dow retaining a 7.5% stake. The sale was finalized in June 2010. The name Trinseo was chosen in 2012. By February 2015, all legal entities worldwide had changed to the name Trinseo. As of 2016, Bain sold all of its stock in Trinseo, grossing $1.69 billion for 37,269,567 shares, resulting in Trinseo's “full independence as a public company.” In March 2023, over 8,000 gallons of "latex finishing material"
leaked into
Otter Creek, a tributary of the
Delaware River, from a Trinseo plant in
Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Well over a million residents of nearby areas--including more than half of the city of
Philadelphia--were at least temporarily urged not to drink their tap water because of potential toxic contamination from the leak, causing widespread panic and shortages of bottled water. Work at the plant, which had been responsible for at least four other contamination incidents since 2010, was temporarily halted by Trinseo. Shares of the company fell after the leak. == Financial==