Dow Chemical Co., the largest U.S. chemical maker by sales, plans to separate chlorine-related assets including its epoxy business as the company focuses on higher-margin activities.

The chlorine assets account for as much as $5 billion of annual revenue and include plants at 11 sites employing almost 2,000 people, Midland, Michigan-based Dow said in a statement.

Dow said it hired financial advisers to look at options for the assets including sales, joint ventures and spinoffs. It expects to complete transactions for the assets in the next year or two.

The move “represents a continuation of the shift of our company toward downstream high-margin products and technologies that customers value, and generate consistently higher returns than cyclical commodity products,” Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Andrew N. Liveris said.

Like competing U.S. chemical producers DuPont Co. and Ashland Inc., Dow is selling or considering the sale of business lines as it attempts to unlock growth. Dow said in October that W.R. Grace & Co. agreed to buy its polypropylene licensing and catalyst unit for $500 million. In October, Dow forecast $3 billion to $4 billion from asset sales in the following 18 to 24 months. The company had said previously that these assets may be sold.

Dow also said today it plans to shut down about 800,000 tons of chlorine and caustic equivalent capacity in Freeport, Texas.