Johnson Matthey, the London-listed industrial group, will on Thursday announce the sale of a unit concerned within the manufacturing of sustainable aviation gas (SAF) as its board fends off stress from an American activist investor.
Banking sources mentioned the deal had been agreed for a value of between £1.5bn and £2bn – which on the higher finish would equate to greater than 80% of the group’s complete £2.3bn market capitalisation.
The identification of the customer couldn’t be established on Wednesday night.
Promoting its Catalyst Applied sciences is anticipated to be welcomed by some shareholders who’ve argued that Johnson Matthey has been insufficiently targeted on higher-growth companies with extra apparent potential to generate monetary returns.
The London-listed firm has been underneath siege from Commonplace Industries, the US-based conglomerate which is its greatest shareholder with a stake of over 10%.
Commonplace Industries wrote an open letter to Johnson Matthey’s board in January, accusing it of destroying shareholder worth.
It mentioned the British firm’s administrators have been responsible of a “continued lack of urgency and incapacity…to do what is necessary to turn Johnson Matthey around and help it to realise its potential”.
The Catalyst Applied sciences arm accounted for roughly a fifth of group gross sales within the half-year to the tip of August, however a couple of third of group revenue.
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In addition to being concerned within the manufacturing of know-how wanted to make SAF, the division is a market chief in supplying specialised providers to the chemical compounds and vitality sectors, with a specific concentrate on decarbonisation.
Extra usually, Johnson Matthey is considered one of Britain’s most vital industrial names, tracing its historical past again to 1817.
A spokesman for Johnson Matthey, which has seen its shares hunch by almost 1 / 4 over the past 12 months, declined to touch upon Wednesday.
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