Cookson Selling Ceramic Filters Line to Sud-Chemie

Cookson Group Plc reports it has agreed conditionally to sell its Hi-Tech Ceramics subsidiary to Sud-Chemie AG, in compliance with the terms set by the European Commission for Cookson’s takeover of Foseco Plc earlier this year. No price has been reported for the sale, which Cookson indicates will be completed by year’s end. Hi-Tech Ceramics manufactures fully sintered, reticulated ceramic filters in alumina, zirconia, and other materials designed, to provide thermal-shock resistance and high temperature stability in nonferrous metals, low-carbon and stainless steels, and superalloys. The European Commission, the trade regulatory agency of the European Union, required the sale of Hi-Tech Ceramics as a condition for approving Cookson’s Cooks estimated $987-million takeover of Foseco PLC. Sud-Chemie is a Munich-based specialty chemical manufacturer. Among its subsidiaries is its Foundry Products and Specialty Resins business unit, and the group is in the process of forming a new, global joint venture with Ashland Inc. that will combine Ashland Casting Solutions, Sud-Chemie’s foundry-related businesses, and their current venture, Ashland-Sudchemie-Kernfest GmbH (ASK).