Johnson Matthey plc (LSE:JMAT) entered into an agreement to acquire battery materials business from Clariant AG (SWX:CLN) for $75 million on October 29, 2014. The transaction covers all of the assets of Clariant's Energy storage business including its manufacturing facility in Candiac, Quebec, an R&D centre and pilot plant in Moosburg, Germany together with the customer order book and a substantial IP portfolio. Following completion, Johnson's two battery materials acquisitions will be integrated into a single entity, Johnson Matthey Battery Materials. This entity, together with Battery Systems business, will make up Johnson Matthey's Battery Technologies business. For the year ended December 31, 2013, the business had sales of approximately £11 million ($18.14 million) and made an operating loss.

The transaction is expected to complete early in 2015. The transaction will accelerate product development through combining the expertise within Clariant's battery materials R&D team with the depth and strength in advanced materials within the Johnson Matthey group. Battery Technologies business will deliver sales in excess of £100 million ($161.33 million) in 2015/16 and break even excluding integration costs in that year. It should contribute good growth in operating profit thereafter. Howard Lee of The Headland Consultancy acted as PR advisor to Johnson Matthey. Florian Kästle, Constanze Ulmer-Eilfort, Gerald Schumann, Jon Marcus Meese, Dorothee Prosteder, Holger Ellers, Tino Marz, André Buchholtz, Christoph Dachner, Veronika Novikov, Maria Eger, Christoph Becker, Jochen Meyer-Burow, Jochen Herr, Benjamin Koch, Daniel Krauspenhaar, Julia Pfeil, Janet Kerstin Butler, Isabell Gernand, Matthew Kindree, Charles M. Magerman and Kamleh J. Nicola of Baker & McKenzie LLP acted as legal advisor for Clariant AG. Nico Abel, Will Arrenberg and Perminder Gainda, Alexander Daehnert, Genevieve Baker, Anne-Marie Lietmeyer, Moritz Kunz and Simone Gregori of Herbert Smith Freehills acted as legal advisor for Johnson Matthey. David Allchurch and Tom Buchanan of Tulchan Communications acted as PR advisor to Johnson Matthey. XMS Capital Partners, LLC acted as a financial advisor to Clariant AG. The currency conversion were done at www.oanda.com.

Johnson Matthey plc (LSE:JMAT) completed the acquisition of battery materials business from Clariant AG (SWX:CLN) on February 28, 2015.