Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Johnson Matthey Plc on the divestment of its Gold and Silver Refining business to Asahi Holdings, Inc., a collector, refiner and recycler of precious and rare metals from waste materials, for £118 million (US$186 million) in cash, subject to typical post-closing adjustments.  The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of March 2015.

Johnson Matthey’s Gold and Silver Refining business is a refiner of primary and secondary gold and silver materials.  It serves customers globally from refineries in the USA and Canada.

Global Head of M&A Stephen Wilkinson led the Herbert Smith Freehills team. Other lawyers included Marc Perkins, Emma Stones (Corporate), Will Arrenberg and Josh Lom (Tax), Julie Vaughan and John Buttanshaw (Environment), and Susan Black and Chris Sherwin (Competition) .

This is the second deal on which we have advised Johnson Matthey in about five weeks; the first being the purchase of a Swiss-based battery materials business, Clariant AG, announced on 5 November, led by Nico Abel in Frankfurt.