THE DEAL: Private equity firm the Carlyle Group is buying DuPont’s performance coatings business for $4.9 billion in cash, giving it another investment in the automotive and industrial segments. It will also assume $250 million of DuPont’s unfunded pension liabilities.

THE BACKGROUND: The performance coatings business of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. caters to the automotive and industrial coatings sectors. Carlyle’s investments in the automotive and industrial segments already include Allison Transmission, PQ Corp. and Hertz.

THE FALLOUT: DuPont says it is still committed to serving the automotive industry.