Umeco bought by US-owned rival for £274m
ADVANCED composites business Umeco has been acquired by rival Cytec UK Holdings in a deal valued at £274m.
In a statement to the stock market, the Leamington Spa-based plc said it considered the terms of the acquisition to be fair and reasonable.
The acquisition will be funded using Cytec existing cash resources and made through holding company Cytec Bidco.
Cytec UK, based in Wrexham, is part of the New Jersey-headquartered Cytec group which is a global player in the speciality chemicals and materials sector.
Cytec’s products serve a diverse range of end markets including aerospace composites, structural adhesives, automotive and industrial coatings, electronics, inks, mining and plastics.
It has manufacturing and research facilities located in 14 countries and a market cap of US$2.6bn.
Its product profile is similar to Umeco’s. The Leamington firm provides advanced composite materials primarily to the aerospace and defence, wind energy, automotive, recreation and other industrial sectors.
Cytec suggests that the combined operations of Cytec and Umeco will be able to offer customers “superior solutions” and will be well positioned to capture the substantial growth opportunities in composite materials markets.
Commenting on the acquisition, Neil Johnson, non-executive chairman of Umeco, said: “The board of Umeco believes that the offer from Cytec of 550 pence per Umeco Share is an attractive price for Umeco shareholders, and represents a valuation that reflects the future growth potential of Umeco whilst providing certainty, in cash, to Umeco shareholders.”
Shane Fleming, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Cytec, said:
“We are excited about combining Umeco with Cytec’s existing advanced composites businesses. It greatly improves our presence in the industrial sector, where we see tremendous potential for significant value creation in applications like automotive as customers seek to reduce weight and CO2 emissions.”
Barclays is acting as sole financial adviser and corporate broker to Cytec and Cytec Bidco.
Rothschild is acting as joint financial adviser to Umeco. Investec is acting as joint financial adviser and sole corporate broker to Umeco.
The deal is subject to shareholder approval.
