Tata Chemicals Ltd is in talks to buy the battery materials business of Johnson Matthey PLC (LSE:JMAT) for between US$500mln and US$700mln, the Mint newspaper reported, citing two people with direct knowledge.
Tata is one of the frontrunners to buy the business from the FTSE-100 chemicals group, the two people told the Indian financial daily. The acquisition could give Tata the edge in the fast-growing electric vehicle market, the paper said.
Talks between the two companies began after Johnson Matthey announced two weeks ago, alongside a group profit warning, that it planned to exit the battery materials business because the potential returns did not justify further investment.