Johnson Matthey PLC has announced the sale of its Canadian investment casting business, Johnson Matthey Precision Castings, to Asahi Holdings Inc. of Japan. The companies have come to an agreement in principle for Asahi to acquire Johnson Matthey’s gold and silver businesses in Salt Lake City, and Brampton, Ontario, Canada. The Johnson Matthey investment castings operation, in St. Catharines, Ontario, is managed as a separate business reporting to the gold and silver business in Brampton and was included in the transaction, which is expected to close in March 2015.
Once the transaction is complete, the company will continue to operate out of St. Catharines, but under the name Niagara Investment Castings, a division of ASAHI Refining Canada Ltd.
The Niagara area casting business was started more than 55 years ago by Johnson Matthey at the current location, originally to meet the need for a supplier of chrome and beryllium cast and forged components used in the resistance welding industry. Today, the business in St. Catharines is one of Canada’s largest manufacturers of commercial investment castings, producing a wide range of ferrous and nonferrous castings for a diversified list of industrial customers worldwide.