LONDON, May 7: Anglo-Dutch food to consumer products group Unilever Plc said on Wednesday it agreed to sell its international speciality chemicals businesses to Imperial Chemical Industries Plc for $ 8.0 billion in cash.

Unilever said the sale would result in an exceptional gain, before tax and expenses, of more than $ 5.0 billion. ICI planned to buy the following units: * US-based National Starch and Chemical Co, a producer of industrial adhesives and resins with commitments to Asia and Latin America. The unit had a 1996 operating profit of about 213 million pounds on sales of 1.56 billion.

* Quest International, a fragrance, food ingredient and flavour company based in the Netherlands, which had a 1996 operating profit of 69 million pounds on sales of 696 million pounds.

* Unichema International, an oleochemicals and nickel catalysts company with headquarters in the Netherlands, had a 1996 operating profit of 43 million pounds on sales of 476 million pounds.

* British-based Crosfield, a global producer of inorganic chemicals based upon silica and alumina, had a 1996 operating profit 32 million pounds on sales of 205 million pounds.

Unilever said the sale of the businesses represented a multiple of operating profit of 14.5 times and a multiple of earnings of 23 times. For its part, Britain's ICI said the deal would have a neutral to positive effect on earnings immediately and be earnings enhancing in the first full year.

"This acquisition transforms the character of ICI. We become even more international and markedly more stable in terms of earnings," ICI chairman Sir Ronald Hempel said in a separate statement. ICI is expected to complete the acquisition, which will be all debt-funded, in the middle of the year.

Unilever said cash from the sale would initially remove net borrowings from its balance sheet, but it added that it planned to use the proceeds to develop its business.

"This will be achieved, in the longer term, by investing to grow our existing businesses and, as appropriate, extending them through acquisition," Unilever chairman Niall FitzGerald said in a statement released here.

ICI said the acquisition was part of its strategy to shift its business profile toward speciality chemicals and reduce its exposure to commodity chemicals.

As part of its strategy, ICI said it planned to sell its 62.4 per cent stake in ICI Australia Ltd through a global equity offering. ICI expected its divestment programme, including the ICI Australia sale.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.