PITTSBURGH, PA -- (Marketwired) -- 07/13/15 -- Koppers Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koppers Holdings Inc.(NYSE: KOP), announced today the sale of its jointly-owned concrete tie business, KSA Limited Partnership ("KSA"), to Rocla Concrete Tie, Inc. for an undisclosed sales price. KSA is a 50/50 joint venture between Koppers and certain subsidiaries of Lehigh Hanson, Inc.
Tom Loadman, senior vice president of Railroad Products and Services, said, "Similar to the divestiture of our U.S. utility pole business earlier this year, the divestiture of our concrete tie business allows us to redeploy financial and human resources and concentrate our focus on our other businesses serving the North American railroad industry where we believe we are better positioned to add value. I would like to thank our joint venture partners and KSA's customers for their support and the KSA employees for their many contributions and years of dedicated service."
Leroy Ball, president and CEO of Koppers, said, "The sale of our concrete tie business represents part of our previously announced strategy of divesting non-core businesses and reducing leverage. We have struggled to generate consistent and meaningful profitability from this business since the creation of the joint venture in 1991, and did not see a clear path to changing that pattern in the future. As a result, we elected to monetize the value of the business today by selling it to an industry leader that was better positioned to help it reach its full potential. We remain proud of KSA's track record within the industry and thankful to KSA's customers and employees for their support."
About Koppers
Koppers, with corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is an integrated global producer of carbon compounds, chemicals, and treated wood products and services for the aluminum, railroad, specialty chemical, utility, rubber, concrete, steel, residential lumber, and agriculture industries. Including our joint ventures, we serve our customers through a comprehensive global manufacturing and distribution network, with facilities located in North America, South America, Australasia, China and Europe. The stock of Koppers Holdings Inc. is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "KOP." For more information, visit us on the Web: www.koppers.com. Questions concerning investor relations should be directed to Michael J. Zugay at 412 227 2231.
Safe Harbor Statement
This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on management's current expectations, estimates and projections. All statements that address expectations or projections about the future, including statements about the company's strategy for growth, product development, market position, expected expenditures and financial results are forward-looking statements. Some of the forward-looking statements may be identified by words like "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "intends," "projects," "indicates," and similar expressions. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors, including those discussed more fully elsewhere in this release and in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Koppers, particularly its latest annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q, as well as others, could cause results to differ materially from those stated. These factors include, but are not limited to, changes in the laws, regulations, policies and economic conditions, including inflation, interest and foreign currency exchange rates of countries in which the Company does business; competitive pressures; the loss of one or more key customer or supplier relationships; customer insolvencies; successful integration of structural changes, including restructuring plans, acquisitions, divestitures and alliances; cost and availability of raw materials; and other economic, business, competitive, regulatory and/or operational factors affecting the business of Koppers generally.
For Information:
Michael J. Zugay
Chief Financial Officer
412 227 2231
Email contact
Source: Koppers Holdings Inc.