Visit Atofina
Home | This Week's Contents  |  C&EN ClassifiedsSearch C&EN Online

 
e-business
Millennium Special Report
C&EN 75th Anniversary Issue
 
Related Stories
Degussa Charts Postmerger Course
[C&EN, Sept. 25, 2000]
Related Sites
Degussa
OMG
Ferro Corp
E-mail this article to a friend
Print this article
E-mail the editor
 
 
 
 Table of Contents
 C&EN Classifieds
 News of the Week
 Cover Story
 Editor's Page
 Business
 Government & Policy
 Science/Technology
 Concentrates
  Business
  Government & Policy
  Science/Technology
 Education
 ACS News
 Calendars
 Books
 Digital Briefs
 ACS Comments
 Career & Employment
 Special Reports
 Letters
 Newscripts
 Nanotechnology
 What's That Stuff?
 Pharmaceutical Century

 Hot Articles
 Safety  Letters
 Chemcyclopedia

 Back Issues

 How to Subscribe
 Subscription Changes
 About C&EN
 Copyright Permission
 E-mail webmaster

ACS 125 years

NEWS OF THE WEEK
BUSINESS
April 30, 2001
Volume 79, Number 18
CENEAR 79 18 pp. 10
ISSN 0009-2347
[Previous Story] [Next Story]

DEGUSSA TO SELL CATALYST UNIT
Deal abets company's transformation into a specialty chemicals player

ALEX TULLO

Degussa is exiting one of its first businesses and bringing itself closer to its goal of focusing on specialty chemicals by selling Degussa Metals Catalysts Cerdec (dmc2) to Cleveland-based OM Group (OMG) for about $1.1 billion. In turn, OMG has agreed to sell the ceramics, pigments, and electronic materials assets of dmc2 to Ferro Corp. for about $540 million.

MOVING ASSETS Degussa technician tests automotive catalyst.
The Degussa unit's core businesses include precious-metal management, catalysts, and ceramic materials. Dmc2 generates about $820 million in annual sales, excluding precious-metal sales and trading.

Degussa decided to carve out the business last year and had plans for a public offering of dmc2 stock. But given the recent performance of financial markets, the company decided that selling the unit to OMG was a better option.

"The acquisition of dmc2 will significantly expand our product offering into fast-growing and high-value-added market segments," says James P. Mooney, OMG's chairman and chief executive officer. OMG currently makes metal and chemical products based primarily on nickel, cobalt, and copper. The deal will take OMG into new markets, such as automotive catalysts, and will give it a position in fuel-cell components, an area that OMG has wanted to enter.

From OMG, Ferro will receive the Degussa unit's electronic materials, Cerdec ceramic materials units, glass systems, and performance pigments businesses, which together generate about $520 million in annual sales. "We couldn't have made a better acquisition," says Hector R. Ortino, Ferro's chairman and CEO, noting that Ferro had been eyeing these businesses for years.

[Previous Story] [Next Story]



Top


Chemical & Engineering News
Copyright © 2001 American Chemical Society


Home | Table of Contents | News of the Week | Cover Story
Business | Government & Policy | Science/Technology
Chemical & Engineering News
Copyright © 2001 American Chemical Society - All Right Reserved
1155 16th Street NW • Washington DC 20036 • (202) 872-4600 • (800) 227-5558


CASChemPortChemCenterPubs Page