ICI sells Synetix for

ICI is to sell its catalyst business, Synetix, to Johnson Matthey for £260m (€412m) in cash. Completion of the transaction is expected in the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory approval.

The agreement follows the strategic decision by the ICI Board last January to divest the Synetix business.

Synetix has catalyst production facilities in several countries and is headquartered at Billingham in the UK. It has approximately 800 employees, who will transfer to Johnson Matthey, and about 5,000 customers in 85 countries. For the year ended 31 December, 2001, Synetix had sales of £146m (€231m) and trading profit of £24m (€38m).

In June Synetix opened an additional research facility in Cambridge in the UK. The £2m (€3.2m) state-of-the-art laboratories is the new premises for Synetix Chiral Technologies and will employee 12 chemists initially, rising to 20 within a year.