• Acquisition to boost ICL Performance Products' range of water treatment offerings and marketing reach
TEL AVIV, Israel, Jan. 13, 2008 -- Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL), a multinational fertilizer and specialty chemicals company, announced that ICL Performance Products has acquired substantially all the business operations and the assets of the Industrial Water Treatment business unit (HWT) of Henkel KGaA for € 60 million, approximately USD $89 million. After the acquisition, HWT will become a part of the ICL Performance Products segment, giving the segment annual revenues of approximately $1.1 billion (based on 2006 data).
HWT is a major European supplier of water treatment chemicals, solutions, services and equipment especially for industry, including, inter alia, steel & coke production, power generation, metal-working, chemical, petrochemical, food & beverage industries, where it has applications for cooling towers, power stations, boilers, drinking water and waste water treatment as well as water conditioning. Its primary target markets include Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Turkey. As part of this transaction, ICL will acquire the shares of Henkel Concorde, a French company that is active in the water treatment field. Currently, HWT employs approximately 180 people in sales, service, R&D and in the production plant in Henkel Concorde. As a result of the acquisition ICL will employ most of these employees. Within Henkel's portfolio the water treatment business is a non-core activity.
In 2006, the business unit had sales of euro 52 million (about $77 million), gross margin of approximately 53% and operating margin of approximately 13%, all based on un-audited data.
ICL is financing the purchase from its own resources and from existing bank credit lines.
ICL intends to integrate HWT into the water treatment business of ICL Performance Products with the goal of realizing operating synergies in the purchase of raw materials, complementary products and geographical markets. The acquisition will expand ICL Performance Products' offerings of water treatment products, application know-how and solutions while also enhancing its geographic marketing reach. In addition, the acquisition will enhance ICL Performance Products' R&D capabilities through the addition of advanced water treatment technology and intellectual property.
ICL Performance Products is one of the core operating segments of ICL, a multinational producer of a broad range of chemicals and chemical-based products.
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