Cleaning services company Ecolab Inc will purchase privately held oilfield specialty chemicals maker Champion Technologies Inc for about $2.2 billion to tap into rising demand for products used in oil and natural gas drilling and help to make up for under-investment in North America.The acquisition will help Ecolab acclerate expansion of its energy services business, which makes products used to prevent corrosion in oilfield equipment and treat water for oil drillers and refiners at a time when oil output from North American shale fields is growing quickly."We're under-invested in North America and Champion has an investment covered in the infrastructure," Ecolab Chief Executive Douglas Baker said on a conference call.St. Paul, Minnesota-based Ecolab, whose biggest shareholder is Microsoft founder Bill Gates's Cascade Investment LLC, will pay about $1.7 billion in cash and issue about 8 million shares to Champion. Ecolab's shares were up 2 percent at $64.93 in early trading on Friday.
Ecolab Inc. (Ecolab) develops and markets products and services for the hospitality, foodservice, healthcare and industrial markets. Shares of ECL traded higher by 2.06% or $1.31/share to $64.98. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $51.74 and as high as $68.96. On average, 1386020 shares of ECL exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 883250.
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