Masan Tungsten Limited Liability Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Masan Resources Corporation, has signed an agreement to buy the tungsten business of Germanys H.C. Starck Group GmbH.

Starck is a leading manufacturer of high-tech tungsten metal powders and carbides (midstream tungsten products) with production facilities in Europe, North America and China and customers across the globe.

A highly qualified and professional team of experts in R&D and application engineering coupled with modern automated manufacturing processes ensure its customers benefit from the highest and consistent quality products.

It owns 105 patents and patent applications and other intellectual properties to manufacture innovative products such as ultrafine size tungsten compounds.

In addition, it is one of the few companies in the world with a comprehensive, environmentally sound tungsten scrap recycling platform backed by proprietary intellectual property.

This transaction is a strategic step in executing Masan Resources Corporation (MSR)s vision to become a leading global vertically integrated high-tech industrial materials platform.

MSRs low-cost, stable primary supply of APT combined with Starcks scrap recycling platform will provide the former with a competitive edge globally.

This will enable it to generate strong and consistent cash flows across price cycles and expand its addressable market by 3.5 times from US$1.3 billion to $4.6 billion.

MSR will become a leading midstream tungsten products supplier across critical industries such as mechanical engineering and tool making, mining, automotive, energy, aviation, and chemicals.

The move into midstream tungsten products is also value enhancing as these products command on average a 30-50 per cent premium to APT products.

This transaction will create a global high-tech industrial company of scale in Vietnam, and, more importantly, enhance Viet Nams competitive edge in the global tungsten market by owning a cutting-edge R&D and technology platform and offer the Vietnamese workforce an opportunity to develop engineering skills in the high-tech manufacturing space as part of the globalisation of MSRs business.

Closing of the transaction is subject to certain regulatory approvals, including governmental, in Viet Nam.

Both parties agreed not to disclose the financial terms of the transaction at this stage. — VNS