ATI Sells Ti Investment Caster to CPP

Allegheny Technologies Inc. agreed to sell its Cast Products business to Consolidated Precision Products Corp. (CPP), a metalcasting business with twelve investment casting foundries and six sand casting and permanent mold casting foundries in North America and Europe. It also has several finishing and assembly operations.

The value of the transaction was not announced. The proceeds of the sale will be directed to reducing ATI’s corporate debt, funding pension obligations, and building strategic cash reserves over time.

“We continue to actively evaluate our business portfolio to ensure that we are focused on the businesses that offer ATI the best combination of growth, profitability, and corporate synergies,” stated president and CEO Robert S. Wetherbee.

The operation to be sold is an investment-casting foundry producing large and complex titanium castings in Albany, OR, for commercial jet airframes and engines. Until 2010 it operated as Pacific Cast Technologies.

Investment casting is favored for complex parts in specialty alloys, especially applications demanding high-strength and lightness, or for use in high-stress applications.

ATI acquired the business in its takeover of Ladish Inc. A specialty finishing operation in Salem, OR, will remain as part of ATI’s High Performance Materials & Components division, and will operate in support of the titanium foundry.

“ATI’s HPMC segment is at its best when we couple our materials science expertise and extensive forging experience to produce critical jet engine components in our world-class production facilities,” stated EVP John Sims, suggesting the group is focusing its activity on the high-value aerospace forging sector.

The sale coincides with ATI’s sale of two closed-die steel forging operations in Indiana and Kentucky for $37 million in cash to Wynnchurch Capital LLC, a private-equity holding company. It described those two plants as "non-core operations."

Sims added: “ATI’s Cast Products business is a good fit for CPP’s aerospace and industrial focused business portfolio.”

CPP also is owned by a private-equity company, Warburg Pincus. Neither company has commented on the purchase.

Last year CPP acquired another investment casting business in Albany, OR, Selmet Inc.  That plant also produces titanium castings and machined components for the aerospace and defense industries.