Apollo Global Management will buy the firm for $1bn, then sell electronic materials business to Platform Specialty Products

Investment group Apollo Global Management has agreed to buy speciality chemicals conglomerate OM Group for just over $1 billion (£695 million). Apollo will then immediately sell off OM’s electronic chemicals and photomasks divisions to Platform Specialty Products for a total of $365 million.

Over the last few years, OM Group has been systematically moving away from commodity chemicals (such as cobalt refining) into more specialised, high-value products. The company believes that Apollo and Platform’s ‘financial resources and global operating experience’ offer the best way for those businesses to grow and generate value for shareholders.

The electronic materials businesses will complement Platform’s MacDermid business unit, which it acquired in 2013 for $1.8 billion. Platform suggests that it will be able to make cost savings of $20 million over two years by combining the businesses.

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