Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Johnson Matthey, the London-listed industrial group, will on Thursday announce the sale of a unit concerned within the manufacturing of sustainable aviation gasoline (SAF) as its board fends off strain from an American activist investor.
Sky Information has learnt that Johnson Matthey will announce, as a part of its full-year outcome, that it’s promoting its Catalyst Applied sciences arm – one in all 4 important divisions on the firm.
Banking sources stated the deal had been agreed for a worth of between £1.5bn and £2bn – which on the higher finish would equate to greater than 80% of the group’s total £2.3bn market capitalisation.
The identification of the customer couldn’t be established on Wednesday night.
Promoting its Catalyst Applied sciences is predicted 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 largest 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 stated the British firm’s administrators have been responsible of a “continued lack of urgency and incapacity…to do what is critical to show Johnson Matthey round and assist it to grasp 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.
Observe The World
Hearken to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim each Wednesday
In addition to being concerned within the manufacturing of expertise wanted to make SAF, the division is a market chief in supplying specialised companies to the chemical substances and power sectors, with a selected deal with decarbonisation.
Extra usually, Johnson Matthey is one in all Britain’s most important industrial names, tracing its historical past again to 1817.
A spokesman for Johnson Matthey, which has seen its shares droop by almost 1 / 4 during the last 12 months, declined to touch upon Wednesday.
