KINGSPORT, TN - Eastman Chemical Co. completed the sale of certain businesses and product lines of the company's coatings, adhesives, specialty polymers and inks (CASPI) segment to the private investment firm Apollo Management L.P. Eastman said the sale is part of a plan to boost profitability.

Apollo said the acquired business will be named Resolution Specialty Materials Inc., and will be based in Houston. The company will be led by Jeff Nodland, a 25-year veteran of the coatings and composites industries.

Businesses and product lines included in the divestiture are acrylate ester monomers, composites (unsaturated polyester resins), inks and graphics arts raw materials, liquid resins, powder resins, and textile chemicals.

Nodland said Resolution Specialty Materials "emerges as a strongly situated, independent supplier of a broad range of chemicals for the coatings, composites, graphics-arts and textile industries, among others." Eastman Chairman and CEO Brian Ferguson said the sale "results in a better alignment of company resources with our strategy going forward."