OM Group To Buy Vacuumschmelze For $1B

OM Group Inc OMG announced its plans to acquire German magnetic materials maker Vacuumschmelze GmbH & Co KG for 700 million euros ($1 billion) from One Equity Partners. OM group projects the deal to close by the end of the third quarter. One Equity Partners had purchased Vacuumschmelze from Morgan Crucible Co Plc for $529 million, including debt, in December 2005. Vacuumschmelze reported an operating profit of 54 million euros and revenue of around 389 million euros for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011. "The proposed acquisition of VAC will allow us to accomplish several critical, strategic imperatives simultaneously," said Joseph Scaminace, OM Group's chairman and chief executive officer. "First and foremost, it will allow us to add another financially strong, market-leading business to our portfolio of highly specialized chemicals and metal-based materials, while preserving our capital structure. Second, it will dramatically accelerate our efforts to move closer to end users in stable and fast-growing end markets, particularly alternative energy, where we have been building a meaningful market position in photovoltaic materials and chemicals as a result of new product development and grid management and storage technologies through our acquisition of EaglePicher Technologies.” OMG shares rose 0.52% to close at $40.85 on Friday. Read more from Benzinga's Company news.