Johnson Matthey has agreed to divest its Alfa Aesar Research Chemicals business to Thermo Fisher Scientific for £256 million in cash, subject to typical post-closing adjustments.

The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the 2015 calendar year, subject to satisfaction of typical pre-closing conditions. Johnson Matthey’s Research Chemicals business, which operates globally under the Alfa Aesar brand, is a supplier of over 45,000 speciality chemicals into both industry and academic institutions in small scale research quantities via its catalogue.

It has a global network of operations with eight core sites supported by five stand-alone sales offices. In total, the business employs approximately 480 people and is part of Johnson Matthey’s Fine Chemicals Division. In the financial year ended 31st March 2015 the Research Chemicals business had sales excluding the value of precious metals (sales) of £77 million. Commenting on the transaction, Robert MacLeod, Chief Executive of Johnson Matthey said: "The divestment of the Research Chemicals business is a further step in delivering our long term strategy to focus the group on growth areas where we can apply our expertise in complex chemistry to create long term value for our shareholders."