Danish catalysis and process technology company Haldor Topsoe  has sold its automotive and stationary DeNox operations to Belgian materials technology and recycling group Umicore for 900 million Danish Krone ($135 million), plus an earn-out.

The  deal includes all employees, technologies, intellectual property rights and production and R&D facilities belonging to the two businesses in Denmark, the US, Brazil and China. The businesses are reported to account for 10% of Topsoe’s total revenues, which amounted to 5.8 billion Danish Krone in 2016.

Topsoe’s president and CEO, Bjerne Clausen, commented: “The agreement is in line with our strategic objective to be present in niche markets where we aim to be among the top three players. As the automotive and stationary DeNOx markets have evolved, that was no longer a realistic prospect for us, and we have acted on that. It is highly unusual for us to sell parts of our business, but as a top-three player within automotive catalysts, Umicore is better suited to continue the development and marketing of the world-leading stationary and automotive DeNOx products, we have developed.”

Topsoe said it will use the proceeds to sharpen focus on developing sustainable solutions that break new ground and expand its core catalysts and technologies for the petrochemical and refining industries.

Some 280 Topsoe employees will transfer to Umicore. Pascal Reymondet, executive vice president, catalysis at Umicore, said Topsoe’s emissions control technologies and production facilities were an excellent addition to its extensive catalysts portfolio for clean air applications.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be finalized around year-end.