Kurita To Buy Aluminium, Paper Chemicals And Water Treatment Businesses From ICL

(RTTNews) - Japan-based Kurita Water Industries Ltd (KTWIF) on Sunday agreed to buy specialty minerals company ICL's (ICL) Performance Products segment's ("ICL PP") APW business units based in Ludwigshafen and Dusseldorf, Germany, as well as at additional ICL PP venues in Europe and China. The transaction will be for consideration of about €250 million.

The closing of the deal is expected to occur at the end of 2014, subject to the completion of certain conditions precedent, including receipt of approvals by authorities, as well as the agreement of a minimum number of APW employees to become employees of Kurita.

The APW ( aluminium, paper chemicals and water treatment ) business units produce active ingredients, formulations and customized water treatment solutions for use by industries and municipalities.

The agreement includes Kurita's purchase of ICL PP's chemical additives business for the paper industry and related aluminium compounds produced by ICL PP at its facilities located in Ludwigshafen and Dusseldorf, Germany, as well as at additional ICL PP venues in Europe and China.

The purchase of the APW business is in line with Kurita's growth strategy. The combination of ICL's Water Solutions business with Kurita's water technologies will help Kurita develop a more advanced platform to collectively build a global footprint.

The Paper Solutions business will accelerate Kurita's expansion of its product offering into new markets through existing relationships. The Alumina Compounds business' technologies for inorganic coagulant, together with Kurita's sensing technologies, will enable Kurita to provide optimal solutions for alumina coagulant to new and existing customers.

The sale of the APW business units is part of ICL's 'Next Step Forward' strategy launched in late 2013. The strategy calls for ICL to divest its non-core businesses to focus on its core businesses in the agriculture, food and engineered materials markets and to optimize its positioning in those markets. The products manufactured by the APW businesses sold to Kurita were not based on ICL's core minerals.