Monday, January 23, 2012

Cabot completes $450M sale of specialty metals unit

By Michelle Lang

Cabot Corp., a Boston specialty metals company, has closed the sale of its supermetals business, expected to bring in proceeds of at least $450 million, to Australia-based Global Advanced Metals.

The sale, which was first announced in August 2011, focuses on tantalum ore, a specialty metal used to manufacture products for the electronics, aerospace, chemical manufacturing and other industries.

Since August, terms of the original agreement have changed slightly. The up front cash payment is still expected to give Cabot  $175 million upon sale closing; Contingent cash payments will total at least $275 million – a $50 million boost to the previously planned minimum cash payment of $225 million – to be paid within a two-year period. Cabot’s facilities in Boyertown, Pa., and Aizuwakamatsu, Japan, will be included in the sale.

The Boston company continues to hold a Manitoba, Canada-based mining facility to mine tantalum and cesium. Its product specialties include carbon  black, fumed silica, inkjet colorants, aerogel and cesium formate drilling fluids.

In April, Cabot (NYSE: CBT) pledged $500,000 to support relief efforts in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami there.  The company has carbon black manufacturing facilities in Japan in Chiba and Shimonoseki, as well as an Aizu tantalum powder facility and a Tokyo business office.