Outotec acquires nearly a fifth of Australian smelting technology company
Lehtikuva /Jussi Nukari CEO of Outotec, Tapani Järvinen believes that Ausmelt’s technology solutions have a strong possibility of growth at Outotec.Finnish Outotec has acquired 19.9 per cent of the shares in the Australian public company Ausmelt Ltd from the company founder Dr John Floyd. Outotec has also launched an off-market takeover offer to acquire all the remaining shares in Ausmelt Ltd.
In the offer Ausmelt is valued at 34 million Australian Dollars, which is equivalent to approximately 21 million Euros.
Ausmelt's principal activities are the development, design, engineering and supply of Top Submerged Lance, TSL smelting technology for the production of metals and processing of industrial wastes.
One of Outotec's general strategic growth initiatives is the acquisition of complementary technologies.
Ausmelt's technology applications complement Outotec's smelting technologies. Outotec has currently flash smelting technology for copper and nickel concentrate smelting in large scale plants, whereas Ausmelt's TSL method is suitable also for a variety of other raw materials, such as ferrous metals, zinc, lead and tin concentrates, zinc bearing residues, and various secondary and waste materials. The process enables the recovery of valuable metals from by-products.
- Ausmelt has an excellent strategic fit with Outotec. Once completed, this acquisition will improve our technology portfolio in environmentally sound smelting technologies, and allows us to offer smaller scale copper and nickel smelters as well as solutions for recycling, secondary materials and process wastes, says Tapani Järvinen, CEO of Outotec.
Outotec expects the transaction to be finalized in the first quarter of 2010.
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