Orica Ltd., Melbourne, said on May 13 it intends to run a sale process for its Minova business. Minova delivers ground support solutions for the mining, civil/tunneling, geotechnical, and construction industries.
“While Minova has delivered a substantially improved performance in recent times, it has been identified as non-core,” said Orica Managing Director and CEO Sanjeev Gandhi. “Therefore, we will consider selling at an appropriate price.”
Orica identifies its core businesses as mining and infrastructure businesses.
Orica said Minova is an attractive global leader in its field and remains a good cash generation business.
First-half Minova EBIT was off 35 percent to A$7.2 million from the year-ago A$11.1 million, however, the company said it was a solid performance in the context of a difficult market. The company said Minova continues to perform well following diversification into infrastructure and hard rock mining segments, and expansion into growing markets such as India and Canada. First-half sales revenues were A$219.1 million, down 17 percent from the year-ago A$263 million.
Orica said Minova has several interested parties.
In the meantime, Orica sold Villawood land in New South Wales in March and said it will realize A$65 million in proceeds.
Orica said it continues to review non-strategic assets and land holdings.