30-05-2012

Grace signs agreement to purchase China Catalyst assets

W. R. Grace & Co announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire the assets of Noblestar Catalysts Co., Ltd. Noblestar is a manufacturer of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts, catalyst intermediates and related products used in the petroleum refining industry and is located in Qingdao, China. The terms of the investment were not disclosed. In order to complete the purchase, Grace established a new Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (WFOE) in the People’s Republic of China.

“This acquisition provides Grace with immediate, local manufacturing capacity to better serve our refining customers within China and North Asia,” said Shawn Abrams, President of Grace Catalysts Technologies. “Investing in China is a part of our overall refining technologies global strategy, which includes creating an integrated manufacturing network to align FCC capacity with demand growth.” Grace expects to make additional investments at the Qingdao site for environmental, safety and manufacturing upgrades.

“This acquisition deal is a strategic disposition and repositioning of Noblestar,” said Chao Cui, CEO and President of Noblestar Catalysts. “With the closing of the deal Noblestar is able to focus its business on rare earth products. We have been happy and proud to be a business partner of Grace for years and are expecting to continue such a good relationship much longer as a supplier.”

The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies, but is subject to the satisfaction of other closing conditions. Grace anticipates completing the transaction as soon as regulatory clearances have been obtained.

In March, Grace announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to form a joint venture with Al Dahra Agricultural Company to build and operate an FCC catalysts and additives plant in the Middle East. The production plant will be used to supply oil refiners in the high growth Middle East and South Asia markets and is expected to come onstream in 2015.

Grace is the worldwide leader in FCC catalysts. Last year, the business successfully introduced several low and no rare earth products to assist petroleum refiners lower their operational costs.

Grace first established a presence in China when it founded Grace China Ltd. in 1986 as the first Wholly Foreign-Owned Company to do business in the Peoples Republic of China -- through its can sealants plant in Shanghai. Currently, Grace operates 5 manufacturing facilities, 3 sales offices and 2 technical service centers in mainland China, including its Asia Pacific regional headquarters in Shanghai.

For more information, please visit www.grace.com.