Advanced materials producer Neo Performance Materials Inc., carved from the remains of bankrupt Molycorp Inc., is weighing an initial public offering or an outright sale, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Neo Performance, backed by investment firm Oaktree Capital Group LLC, hasn’t determined which avenue it will pursue but is expected to file for an IPO next month. Neo Performance’s assets don’t include Molycorp’s former rare-earths mine in the California desert, which is the only such mine in the U.S. and was sold separately. Molycorp spent hundreds of millions of dollars on an experimental ore-processing system for rare-earth metals, which are used in hybrid electric cars, iPhones and military hardware such as night-vision goggles and guided weapons, among other applications. When prices plummeted in the mining segment dominated by low-cost Chinese producers, Molycorp couldn’t compete and filed for bankruptcy in June 2015.
