Platform Specialty Products Corp of US buys Alent chemicals firm for €1.8bn

US chemicals maker Platform Specialty Products Corp said it would buy UK’s Alent Plc for about £1.35bn (€1.87bn) in cash to expand its portfolio and save costs, sending shares of Alent to their highest on record.

The British chemicals maker’s shares rose 45% to a record high on the London Stock Exchange. The stock was the top gainer on the FTSE-250 Midcap Index yesterday.

The 503-pence-per-share offer from Platform Specialty is at a 49% premium to Alent’s closing price on Friday. Including debt, the deal is worth about $2.3bn, the companies said.

The deal, Platform’s eighth in the last three years, is expected to help the combined entity save about $50mn in costs annually before tax.

Platform most recently bought OM Group’s industrial chemicals unit in June.

Platform said it would integrate Alent into its performance applications unit, MacDermid, which competes with the British firm to make chemicals used in the electronics and automotive industries.

The deal, which has the backing of Alent’s board and its largest shareholder Cevian Capital, includes an option for Alent shareholders to receive 0.31523 Platform shares for each Alent share instead of cash.

Reuters