Johnson Matthey agrees £550m deal to sell business unit
Johnson Matthey has agreed to sell its medical device components (MDC) unit in a half-billion pound deal which completes a plan to slim down parts of its business that was announced two years ago.
The chemicals and technologies company said on Wednesday that private equity company Montagu would buy the unit, which has factories in three countries, for 700 million US dollars (£550 million).
The unit produces components that it sells to the manufacturers of medical devices.
Its chief executive Don Freeman said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Montagu in the next phase of MDC’s development.
“They bring a significant amount of expertise in healthcare and in particular IP-led (intellectual property) medical devices, and they share our ambitions for the business over the coming years, both organically and through M&A (mergers and acquisitions).”
Montagu was formed out of Midlands Bank – now HSBC – around half a century ago. It has assets of around 11 billion euro (£9.4 million).
It also owns Janes, a defence information company, funeral provider Dignity, Quorn-maker Marlow Foods, the University of Law, and many others.
Montagu partner Adrien Sassi said: “The carve-out of MDC aligns strongly with Montagu’s approach.
“MDC has rare and hard-to-replicate capabilities that enable it to handle the most complex and demanding precision-engineered components at scale.
“With support from Johnson Matthey, Don and his team have positioned the business to capitalise on the fast growth of its underlying markets and blue-chip OEM (original equipment manufacturer) customers.
“We look forward to supporting their ambitious expansion plans.”
