Umicore buys Precious Metals Group

OM Group of Cleveland, Ohio and Umicore of Brussels, Belgium have entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of OMG’s Precious Metals Group to Umicore. Although the transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals, both companies anticipate a timely closing of the transaction.

The company said that this acquisition “will make Umicore a pre-eminent actor in the global precious metals business and marks a major step in Umicore’s strategy of expanding its activities towards more technology intensive materials.”

PMG is leading global producer of autocatalysts, with industrial operations in Europe, North & South America, Asia and Africa. It is also active in precious metals refining, recycling and marketing and it holds strong positions in a wide range of precious metals based, value added materials, serving amongst others the electronics, jewelry, glass and pharmaceuticals industries.

Furthermore, PMG has made a significant investment in the development of fuel cell technology. PMG has approximately 3,500 employees.

This acquisition is fully in line with Umicore’s intent of providing “materials for a better life” based on core competencies in metallurgy and materials science. The combination of PMG with Umicore’s existing successful precious metals refining and recycling business will result in a number of significant short and medium term benefits.