The FMC Corporation, a chemical maker, said on Monday that it planned to divide itself in two by spinning off its minerals business.
The move is the latest by a company to use a breakup try to create more value for its shareholders. In the last few years, investors have pressed management teams to spin out nonessential divisions to promote greater focus for each operation.
FMC’s plan would create two companies, both traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The bigger entity would contain the corporation’s agriculture and nutrition divisions, which have formed the basis of FMC since its founding over a century ago as the Bean Spray Pump Company.
Together, the two divisions reported $2.9 billion in revenue last year, up 12 percent from 2012.
The second company would be FMC Minerals, which produces materials like soda ash for a variety of industrial customers. Among its most prominent businesses is its lithium division, whose products are used to create batteries like those used in electric cars.
The company said in a statement that it believed the minerals operation would be strong enough financially as a stand-alone to pursue acquisitions. Last year, the division reported revenue of $970 million, relatively flat compared with 2012.
“We believe that creating two companies, each with its own publicly-listed equity, will enable the management of each company to pursue its own strategy,†Pierre R. Brondeau, FMC’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. “This will give each company greater focus on the success factors that are most important to its business and allow the adoption of a capital structure that is appropriate to its business profile.â€
The company has already divested some businesses, including its peroxygens unit, which it sold to the investment firm One Equity Partners for $200 million.
The breakup is expected to be complete by early next year.
The company was advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
