Sale of Cookson's laminates business for US$91 million

Cookson Group plc has entered into an agreement to sell its Laminates business to Isola Group S.A.R.L, for US$91 million.

Isola Group S.A.R.L. is ultimately owned by Texas Pacific Group. Completion of the transaction, which is conditional on satisfactory clearance from the European competition authorities, is expected in February 2006.

The purchase price will be satisfied on completion by a combination of cash proceeds and an assumption of net debt. The cash element of the price will be subject to completion balance sheet adjustments in respect of working capital and capital expenditure, which are not expected to be material.

Laminates, one of the three business sectors which comprise Cookson's Electronics division, supplies laminates, prepregs and other substrate material products for the manufacture of printed circuit boards under its trading name, Polyclad. The business comprises a group of companies with operations and production facilities in the USA, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

The sale of Laminates is part of Cookson's strategy of focusing on higher technology products and exiting commodity activities, as well as achieving progressive debt reduction through, in part, non-core business disposals. In January 2005, Cookson announced a target of raising over £100 million from disposal proceeds by the end of 2006. In the six month period to 30 June 2005, cash proceeds from disposals totalled £13 million.

Commenting on the sale, Nick Salmon, Chief Executive of Cookson Group plc, said:  "This transaction represents a significant step in the achievement of one of our other strategic objectives, progressive debt reduction. As a result of this transaction and others concluded during the course of the year to date, we are now nearly two thirds of the way towards our strategic goal of raising over £100 million through disposals by the end of 2006. We remain confident of achieving that goal.'