EU Gives Conditional Okay to Omya Purchase of Huber Business

Brussels, Belgium, 19 July 2006 -- European Union regulators approved the purchase by Swiss chemical firm Omya AG of U.S. mineral producer J.M. Huber's paper mineral business, on condition that the group divest a plant in Finland.

Omya and Huber must sell an onsite precipitated calcium carbonate plant in Finland, together with its PCC coating technology to a suitable purchaser, the European Commission said.

J.M. Huber headquartered in Edison, New Jersey is selling off 12 plants built on paper mill sites to provide the paper industry with calcium carbonate, which is used to produce gloss finishes.

Only six of those are in Europe, but Finland asked the EU to look into the deal because of concerns it would make Omya too powerful a player.

EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said the sale of the Finnish plant "should secure effective competition" in the EUR 72 billion (USD 90 billion) European papermaking industry.

The deal makes Omya will become the world's second-largest producer of precipitated calcium carbonate behind the U.S.-based Minerals Technologies Inc.