{"text":[[{"start":9.9,"text":"Honeywell spin-off Solstice Advanced Materials is combining with Element Solutions in a $14.5bn deal to create a speciality chemicals giant less than a year after breaking off from the industrial conglomerate."}],[{"start":24.200000000000003,"text":"Solstice said on Monday that it was acquiring Element in a largely stock-based deal, which gives Element an implied equity value of $50.10 a share, a 15 per cent premium to Thursday’s closing price."}],[{"start":37.550000000000004,"text":"The deal will create a leading advanced materials company with a combined enterprise value of roughly $29bn, generating $6.8bn in annual sales."}],[{"start":48.45,"text":"The FT reported earlier on Monday that the two companies were in merger talks over a deal that could be announced as soon as this week."}],[{"start":55.85,"text":"The combination will bolster Solstice’s expertise in refrigerants and performance materials for industry with Element’s capabilities in producing speciality materials for semiconductors, electronics and automotives. "}],[{"start":68.85,"text":"It will position Solstice as a supplier to the AI supply chain, providing everything from packaging and thermal management capabilities to data centre cooling technology."}],[{"start":79.55,"text":"For each share, Element investors will receive 0.5 shares of Solstice common stock and $10 in cash, Solstice said. Once the deal closes, Element shareholders are set to own about 44 per cent of the combined company. "}],[{"start":94.75,"text":"The deal allows Solstice to take advantage of its strong share price performance since breaking away from Honeywell eight months ago. The stock is up 75 per cent, giving Solstice a market value of $12.7bn at Thursday’s close."}],[{"start":109.05,"text":"Solstice’s shares closed 15.1 per cent lower on Monday following the announcement. Element’s shares dropped 3 per cent."}],[{"start":116.64999999999999,"text":"“We’ve done very well since the spin and this was just a perfect combination,” Solstice chief executive David Sewell told the FT."}],[{"start":123.8,"text":"The addition of Element would “really round out our electronics portfolio,” Sewell continued. “The current chip fabrication demand is so strong and so the upside from AI is so strong . . . We have complete solutions for this generational growth opportunity.”"}],[{"start":139.55,"text":"Shares in Element had increased 77 per cent over the past year to Thursday’s close, as it benefited from increased demand from the high-end electronics market, giving it a market capitalisation of $10.6bn."}],[{"start":153.3,"text":"Under chief executive Ben Gliklich, Element has also struck a series of smaller deals in recent years to bolster its presence in the semiconductor supply chain. It bought Micromax, a maker of conductive pastes for electronics, for $500mn last year."}],[{"start":169.4,"text":"Gliklich will serve on the combined company’s 11-person board, alongside two other directors chosen by Element. The deal will be funded by a $4.7bn bridge loan provided by Goldman Sachs."}],[{"start":181.75,"text":"The transaction comes amid a boom in dealmaking, with a record 47 transactions valued at more than $10bn in the first half of the year, helping to push global dealmaking volume to $2.8tn, according to LSEG."}],[{"start":196.5,"text":"Solstice’s public listing was the first part of Honeywell’s complex break-up. The $135bn industrial giant last month split into two publicly traded companies: one focused on aerospace and the other on automation."}],[{"start":210.55,"text":"Goldman, PJT Partners and Consello provided advice to Solstice, while Davis Polk and Hogan Lovells served as legal counsel. Bank of America, Paul Weiss and Collected Strategies served as Element’s advisers."}],[{"start":234.45000000000002,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1783390715_5129.mp3"}