Engelhard Corp., the Iselin, N.J-based maker of specialty chemicals and other products, is looking to sell its 33,000-square-foot gold-products plant in Anaheim.
The company is in talks with potential buyers, according to spokesman Kevin Kelly, and even if Engelhard doesn’t find a buyer, the company plans to shutter the plant on La Palma Avenue near Tustin Avenue.
“We are committed to closing that plant, whether or not we find buyers,” he said.
As a first step toward winding down operations, Engelhard earlier this year sold an electroless gold-plating business that operated from Anaheim. The buyer was San Diego-based Polese Co., a unit of SEMX Corp. of Armonk, N.Y.
Engelhard laid off 15 employees after the sale. Another five workers are set to relocate to Polese’s facility in San Diego, and production equipment from Anaheim also will be moved to San Diego by the end of month. Until then, Polese continues to operate the electroless gold-plating business from Anaheim, leasing the space from Engelhard. Customers include semiconductor packaging and printed circuit board makers.
The electroless gold-plating operation is one of three businesses that Engelhard has run from the plant, known as Engelhard West Inc. The other two are a precious-metals refinery and a separate plating business. The 20 remaining employees at the plant either will be laid off or relocated by a potential buyer, Kelly said.
Engelhard will provide employees with severance packages and job search assistance, if needed, he said.
The sale of the refinery is Engelhard’s priority as the remaining plating business uses just one part-time employee, Kelly said.
Engelhard is selling the plant as part of a move to pay down debt after a series of acquisitions in the past four years. The company is selling off or shutting down under-performing units and unloading real estate it owns across the country, Kelly said.
The company, which counted sales of $4.4 billion last year, had $497.5 million in long-term debt as of March 31.
The Anaheim plant has been in operation since 1979. A shutdown has been under consideration by the company for the past couple of years, Kelly said.
The plant sale is being handled internally by the company’s mergers and acquisitions department.
