At W.R. Grace, a rare chemical company split without activist investors

W.R. Grace & Co.'s plan to crack itself into two companies comes against the backdrop of a chemical industry filled with talk about splitting up conglomerates.

But Columbia-based Grace (NYSE: GRA) stands apart from some of its competitors because of the way it formulated its breakup plans — company management appears to have gone forward with them willingly instead of being pushed by activist investors.

The story is much different at some other chemical and catalyst makers like the much-larg