Thursday, August 25, 2011

Cabot selling Supermetals line for $400M

By Rodney H. Brown

Specialty materials company Cabot Corp. (NYSE: CBT) has entered into an agreement to sell a business line of rare metals to Global Advanced Metals for $400 million in cash, the company reported in a release today.

Boston-based Cabot is selling its Supermetals business to Australian company GAM, which is a major supplier of tantalum ore, used by the Supermetals business in the manufacture of high-end products for the electronics, aerospace, chemical manufacturing and other industries, according to the release.

The terms of the deal include an up front cash payment of $175 million when the sale closes. Contingent cash payments that are based on the future performance of the acquired business, will total a minimum of $225 million and be paid within a two-year period, according to the release. Cabot will keep its mining operation in Manitoba, Canada where the company mines cesium for its Specialty Fluids Business, as well as tantalum.

Cabot’s major products are carbon black, fumed silica, inkjet colorants, aerogel, capacitor materials, and cesium formate drilling fluids.

In April, Cabot pledged $500,000 to support relief efforts in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami there. Cabot operates carbon black manufacturing facilities in Japan in Chiba and Shimonoseki, along with a tantalum powder facility in Aizu and a business office in Tokyo.