Johnson Matthey to acquire Lancaster Synthesis
15 Jul 2004
Johnson Matthey is to acquire the worldwide business of Lancaster Synthesis from Clariant for £14.15 million.
The transaction is part of Clariant's strategy to sell businesses which are no longer part of what it considers are its core activities.
Lancaster sells a wide range of organic chemicals mainly to industrial and academic research institutions. It has catalogue sales and small scale bulk manufacturing operations in Morecambe, UK and additional distribution facilities in the USA, Germany, France and India.
The business had sales of £19.6 million in 2003 and employs 225 people worldwide.
Johnson Matthey will take a £2 million exceptional provision to integrate the Lancaster business with its existing Research Chemicals operations. It says that the acquisition will be accretive to earnings in the first full year of ownership.
The transaction is still conditional upon regulatory approval in Germany.
