Kelley Drye Advises GrafTech in $135 Million Sale

Kelley Drye advised client GrafTech International Limited (“GrafTech”) on the sale of its cathode business, Carbon Savoie, to a subsidiary of Alcan, a Canadian aluminum producer, for $135 million, subject to certain agreed upon adjustments, plus Alcan’s assumption of certain related liabilities. This cross-border transaction involved the sale of GrafTech’s majority interest in Carbone Savoie to the minority equity holder, the sale of part of a manufacturing facility owned by a GrafTech French subsidiary to Carbone Savoie, the sale of certain assets in Brazil to Carbone Savoie, and the sale of the equity of Carbone Savoie’s Brazil subsidiary.

GrafTech is one of the world’s largest manufacturers and providers of high quality natural and synthetic graphite and carbon-based products. The company has customers in 80 countries engaged in the manufacture of steel, silicon metal, automotive products, and electronics.

Kelley Drye advised on several complex conflict of law questions and intellectual property questions due to the cross-border nature of the transaction.