Cookson recently took the first step towards investing the proceeds of its exit from Cookson Matthey Ceramics with the £50m acquisition of two UK-based refractories companies. Stephen Howard, chief executive, said last month that the group could spend about £300m on acquisitions to buy its core ceramics and electronic materials businesses, after the £65m disposal of its 50% stake in CMC to its partner, Johnson Matthey. Cookson has paid £43.7m in cash and £6.35m in loan notes to an unnamed privately-owned group for Flogates and KSR, two Sheffield-based companies. Flogates makes and installs slidegate systems and refractory products which are used in the steel industry for moving molten steel. KSR manufactures monolithic refractory products such as furnace linings and metallurgical powders.
