Cognis Repays Henkel $493 Million

Germany’s Henkel said on Tuesday that it had received 410 million euros ($493 million) after Cognis redeemed and paid interest on a 350-million-euro loan dating back to 2001. The loan by the consumer goods group had been made following the sale of Cognis, which included Henkel’s chemical activities, to private equity funds Permira, GS Capital Partners and Schroder Ventures Life Sciences three years ago.

Henkel completed its $2.9 billion purchase of U.S. soap maker Dial earlier this year but has not yet decided on permanent financing for the deal.

Experts said the acquisition has been paid for but Henkel has always said that it ultimately plans to refinance it by selling either a 28.9% stake in U.S. household goods group Clorox or a 28.3% holding in cleaning and pest-control services firm Ecolab, or some of both.