I wrote about Rockwood Holdings (NYSE:ROC) in December of 2013 and thought at the time
that it was a very high-quality specialty chemical company, with an
attractive cost-advantaged lithium business, but an expensive stock.
That opinion worked reasonably well until today, as other chemical
companies like BASF (OTCQX:BASFY) and Taminco (NYSE:TAM) had been outperforming the shares. That's all moot now, though, as Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) has stepped up with a premium buyout offer for this specialty chemical company.
For
Albemarle's part, they're paying up to add a well-run surface
treatments business and grab the growth potential of Rockwood's
top-notch lithium operations. Paying 14x 2014 pro-forma EBITDA (and more
than 11x assuming synergies) is steep, but Rockwood is a unique asset
with both strong internal returns and good growth potential leveraged to
the developing electric vehicle market.
Continue here for the full article:
Albemarle Pays A Stiff Price For A Premium Asset
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