COLUMBIA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May. 30, 2012--
W. R. Grace & Co. (NYSE:GRA) announced today that it has signed an
agreement to acquire the assets of Noblestar Catalysts Co., Ltd.
Noblestar is a manufacturer of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts,
catalyst intermediates and related products used in the petroleum
refining industry and is located in Qingdao, China. The terms of the
investment were not disclosed. In order to complete the purchase, Grace
established a new Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (WFOE) in the People’s
Republic of China.
“This acquisition provides Grace with immediate, local manufacturing
capacity to better serve our refining customers within China and North
Asia,” said Shawn Abrams, President of Grace Catalysts Technologies.
“Investing in China is a part of our overall refining technologies
global strategy, which includes creating an integrated manufacturing
network to align FCC capacity with demand growth.” Grace expects to make
additional investments at the Qingdao site for environmental, safety and
manufacturing upgrades.
“This acquisition deal is a strategic disposition and repositioning of
Noblestar,” said Chao Cui, CEO and President of Noblestar Catalysts.
“With the closing of the deal Noblestar is able to focus its business on
rare earth products. We have been happy and proud to be a business
partner of Grace for years and are expecting to continue such a good
relationship much longer as a supplier.”
The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both
companies, but is subject to the satisfaction of other closing
conditions. Grace anticipates completing the transaction as soon as
regulatory clearances have been obtained.
In March, Grace announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding
to form a joint venture with Al Dahra Agricultural Company to build and
operate an FCC catalysts and additives plant in the Middle East. The
production plant will be used to supply oil refiners in the high growth
Middle East and South Asia markets and is expected to come onstream in
2015.
Grace is the worldwide leader in FCC catalysts. Last year, the business
successfully introduced several low and no rare earth products to assist
petroleum refiners lower their operational costs.
Grace first established a presence in China when it founded Grace China
Ltd. in 1986 as the first Wholly Foreign-Owned Company to do business in
the Peoples Republic of China -- through its can sealants plant in
Shanghai. Currently, Grace operates 5 manufacturing facilities, 3 sales
offices and 2 technical service centers in mainland China, including its
Asia Pacific regional headquarters in Shanghai.
About Grace
Grace is a leading global supplier of catalysts; engineered and
packaging materials; and, specialty construction chemicals and building
materials. The company’s three industry-leading business segments—Grace
Catalysts Technologies, Grace Materials Technologies and Grace
Construction Products—provide innovative products, technologies and
services that enhance the quality of life. Grace employs approximately
6,000 people in over 40 countries and had 2011 net sales of $3.2
billion. More information about Grace is available at www.grace.com.
About Noblestar
Noblestar, located in Qingdao, China, has been specialized in
manufacturing of FCC catalysts and additives for petrochemicals since
2001. Noblestar has been involved in rare earth business from 2010.
Noblestar employs 150 people consisted of experienced R&D and
engineering professionals and a skillful worker team. It has sales of
680 million RMB (appx. 108 million USD) in 2011. More information about
Noblestar is available at www.noblestar.com.cn.
This announcement contains forward-looking statements, that is,
information related to future, not past, events. Such statements
generally include the words “believes,” “plans,” “intends,” “targets,”
“will,” “expects,” “suggests,” “anticipates,” “outlook,” “continues” or
similar expressions. Forward-looking statements include, without
limitation, all statements regarding Grace’s Chapter 11 case; expected
financial positions; results of operations; cash flows; financing plans;
business strategy; budgets; capital and other expenditures; competitive
positions; growth opportunities for existing products; benefits from new
technology and cost reduction initiatives, plans and objectives; and
markets for securities. For these statements, Grace claims the
protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained
in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Like other
businesses, Grace is subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause
its actual results to differ materially from its projections or that
could cause other forward-looking statements to prove incorrect. Factors
that could cause actual results to materially differ from those
contained in the forward-looking statements include, without limitation:
developments affecting Grace’s bankruptcy, proposed plan of
reorganization and settlements with certain creditors, the cost and
availability of raw materials (including rare earth) and energy,
developments affecting Grace’s underfunded and unfunded pension
obligations, risks related to foreign operations, especially in emerging
regions, acquisitions and divestitures of assets and gains and losses
from dispositions or impairments, the effectiveness of its research and
development and growth investments, its legal and environmental
proceedings, costs of compliance with environmental regulation and those
factors set forth in Grace’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K,
quarterly report on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, which
have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and are
readily available on the Internet at www.sec.gov.
Reported results should not be considered as an indication of future
performance. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on
Grace’s projections and forward-looking statements, which speak only as
of the date thereof. Grace undertakes no obligation to publicly release
any revision to the projections and forward-looking statements contained
in this announcement, or to update them to reflect events or
circumstances occurring after the date of this announcement.
Source: W. R. Grace & Co.
W. R. Grace & Co.
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Greg Euston, +1
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Mark Sutherland, +1 410-531-4590
mark.sutherland@grace.com