U.S. chemicals maker Platform Specialty Products Corp said it would purchase UK's Alent Plc for about 1.35 billion pounds ($2.09 billion) in cash to expand its portfolio and save costs, sending shares of Alent to their highest on record.The British chemicals maker's shares rose 45 percent to an all-time high on the London Stock Exchange. The stock was the top gainer on the FTSE-250 Midcap Index. The 503-pence-per-share offer from Platform Specialty is at a 49 percent premium to Alent's closing price on Friday. Including debt, the deal is worth about $2.3 billion, the companies said.The deal, Platform's eighth in the last three years, is expected to help the combined entity save about $50 million in costs annually before tax.
Shares of PAH traded higher by 4.19% or $1.01/share to $25.14. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $20.15 and as high as $28.44. On average, 1279710 shares of PAH exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 2007487.
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