HOUSTON – CARBO^® Ceramics Inc. and PicOnyx Inc. have executed the definitive agreements that will govern their previously announced strategic partnership for the production of M-Tone. An innovative family of unique, high-performance black pigments, M-Tone addresses customer needs for black pigments with higher performance and greater functionality that are more environmentally friendly than other available alternatives.

Under the terms of the agreements, CARBO will provide certain production assets and services to PicOnyx and will provide PicOnyx with manufacturing capacity, production capabilities and resources to support PicOnyx’s growth plans for M-Tone. In exchange for its contributions and services, CARBO will obtain an equity stake in PicOnyx, and under the terms of a contract manufacturing agreement, CARBO will produce M-Tone for PicOnyx on a cost-plus basis.

The manufacturing operation, located in Louisiana, is expected to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2019 and will be capable of supporting PicOnyx’s expected production needs for the next several years.

Gary Kolstad, CEO of CARBO commented, “We are excited to partner with PicOnyx, which has a truly innovative product platform. This partnership provides a great opportunity for CARBO to utilize certain idled assets and execute on our transformation strategy to grow our industrial revenue streams. We look forward to helping PicOnyx achieve its growth plan in the months and years ahead.”

“With the successful closing of this transaction, we have a clear path to ramp rapidly and aggressively grow PicOnyx. The elements of a very profitable, high growth business are at hand. PicOnyx has an experienced team, capable partners, a novel, proven product, scalable manufacturing, and motivated customers in the high-performance black pigments market, which is estimated to be greater than one billion dollars,” said Dave Bening, CEO of PicOnyx.