The acquisition, first reported in March, follows a 99.9% vote by Neo Materials’ shareholders to approve the transaction in a 30 May 2012, Special Meeting.
Following the close, Neo Materials’ subsidiaries will use the Molycorp corporate logo, with the exception of Neo’s Magnequench subsidiary, which will use a Molycorp Magnequench logo.Combined, the companies span 26 locations across 11 countries, and have over 2,600 employees worldwide.
“Less than two years after becoming a publicly traded company, Molycorp has now grown into one of the world’s leading, vertically integrated, global rare earths and rare metals companies, with what I believe to be an unmatched combination of employees, world-class resources, and ultra-high-purity processing and materials engineering capabilities,” said Mark A. Smith, Molycorp’s president and CEO.
“We now have the broadest global coverage in the industry, and we can immediately access highly specialized niche markets that were not available to us prior to the Neo acquisition,” Mr. Smith said. “Our expanded product line in rare earths, particularly in the ‘heavies’ category, and rare metals, along with our patented technology platform, and our ability to consistently meet demanding customer specifications, will make us a formidable player in these global markets for years to come.”
This comes at the same time as news that the Chinese government was encouraging other countries to increase their supply of rare earth metals, following increasing controls on mining in that country.