Metso Minerals has finalized the divestment of its Hodge Foundry unit in Greenville, Pennsylvania, USA to a group of investors, including the local management, Commonwealth Capital Group based in Pittsburgh and members of the Hodge family. The sale became effective on December 31, 2002 to the new company, Hodge Foundry, Inc. The foundry employs 90 persons. The transaction price will not be disclosed.
Hodge Foundry is a leading large ductile and gray iron speciality engineering foundry with the capability to pour castings to 78 tons (175,000 pounds) and annual volumes to 16,000 metric tons. It supplies Metso Minerals castings for large grinding mills. It also provides castings for power generation equipment, steel industry, paper machinery and machine tools, among others. In 2002, the net sales of Hodge Foundry exceeded USD 10 million.
Metso Minerals announced to its intent to divest Hodge Foundry in December 2001 as a part of the divesture of its non-core businesses operations. Hodge Foundry was transferred to Metso Minerals through the acquisition of Svedala Industri AB in September, 2001.
Metso Corporation is a global supplier of process industry machinery and systems, as well as know-how and aftermarket and services. The corporation's core businesses are fiber and paper technology (Metso Paper), rock and mineral processing (Metso Minerals) and automation and control technology (Metso Automation). In 2001, the net sales of Metso Corporation were EUR 4.3 billion and the personnel totaled approximately 30,000. Metso Corporation is listed on the Helsinki and New York Stock Exchanges.