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 end result, that it’s promoting its Catalyst Applied sciences arm – certainly one of 4 major 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 complete £2.3bn market capitalisation.
The identification of the customer couldn’t be established on Wednesday night.
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Promoting its Catalyst Applied sciences is predicted to be welcomed by some shareholders who’ve argued that Johnson Matthey has been insufficiently centered on higher-growth companies with extra apparent potential to generate monetary returns.
The London-listed firm has been underneath siege from Customary Industries, the US-based conglomerate which is its largest shareholder with a stake of over 10%.
Customary 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 had been responsible of a “continued lack of urgency and incapacity…to do what is necessary to turn Johnson Matthey around and help it to realise 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 few third of group revenue.
In addition to being concerned within the manufacturing of know-how wanted to make SAF, the division is a market chief in supplying specialised providers to the chemical substances and vitality sectors, with a selected concentrate on decarbonisation.
Extra usually, Johnson Matthey is certainly one of Britain’s most vital industrial names, tracing its historical past again to 1817.
A spokesman for Johnson Matthey, which has seen its shares hunch by practically 1 / 4 during the last yr, declined to touch upon Wednesday.
