According to WE Soda, the acquisition establishes it as the largest global producer of soda ash, increasing the company’s total production capacity to approximately 9.5 million metric tons per year (mtpa).

Alasdair Warren, CEO of WE Soda, commented: "The acquisition of Alkali represents a significant strategic milestone; it provides the foundation for our future growth, strengthens our industry leadership position, enhances our ability to serve our customers globally and gives us the opportunity to unlock significant operational and efficiency benefits for our stakeholders.

“We are now the largest producer of soda ash globally and the only producer that is 100% natural, further underscoring our sustainability leadership. We have diversified our portfolio operationally and geographically and we now have access to infrastructure worldwide that will further enhance our customer service offering.

Alkali operates two large, natural soda ash production facilities – Westvaco and Granger – located in Wyoming, US with a combined production capacity of 4.35 million mtpa:

The combined business of WE Soda and Alkali will be managed as a single operation following an integration process. Over the next five years, WE Soda expects the combined businesses to deliver $1 billion of incremental free cash flow by optimizing growth investment plans while increasing production to around 11 million mtpa.