WR Grace nixes ICI deal - Oct. 14, 1998

News > Deals

W.R. Grace nixes ICI deal

October 14, 1998: 11:40 a.m. ET

$455 million acquisition terminated due to regulators' antitrust concern

NEW YORK (CNNfn) - W.R. Grace & Co. agreed with Imperial Chemical Industries PLC to terminate the $455 million acquisition of ICI's minerals business following weeks of fruitless negotiations with federal regulators, the Boca Raton, Fla.-based chemicals company said Wednesday.
     Grace reached a definitive agreement in April to acquire ICI's Crosfield business, but delayed the closing of the transaction due to antitrust concerns raised by the Federal Trade Commission.
     Grace said the agreement was terminated because both parties were unable to obtain clearance.
     Grace stock (GRA) was up 1-3/16 at 11-9/16 in early Wednesday trading while ICI shares (ICI) were down 3-1/8 at 33-1/8.
     To allay fears, Grace Chairman and Chief Executive Albert J. Costello said he believed third-quarter earnings would meet or exceed analysts' expectations.
     Analysts had a consensus estimate of 29 cents a share, according to First Call.
     Earnings are expected to be released Oct. 22.

RELATED STORIES
Sealed Air says 'Grace' - Aug. 15, 1998 DuPont grabs ICI units - July 14, 1998

RELATED SITES
Grace Imperial Chemical
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window External sites are not endorsed by CNNmoney

© 2008 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Privacy Policy

Live Quotes automatically refresh, but individual equities are delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. Market indexes are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET.
* : Time reflects local markets trading time. † - Intraday data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. Disclaimer

Copyright © 2008 BigCharts.com Inc. All rights reserved. Please see our Terms of Use.
MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc.
Intraday data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. All Times are ET.
Intraday data provided by Interactive Data Real-Time Services and subject to the Terms of Use.
Historical, current end-of-day data, and splits data provided by Interactive Data Pricing and Reference Data.
Fundamental data provided by Hemscott.
SEC Filings data provided by Edgar Online Inc..
Earnings data provided by FactSet CallStreet, LLC.