The catalyst of the invention is a particulate catalyst in the form of particles having a minimum dimension of at least 0.8 mm, including a transition metal or a compound thereof dispersed on a porous support material, characterized in that said catalyst particles comprise at least 35% w/w total transition metal; and the transition metal surface area of said catalyst is at least 110 m2 per gram of transition metal and the tapped bulk density of a bed of the catalyst particles is at least 0.7 g/ml. The method of making a catalyst includes multiple steps of impregnation of a porous support with a metal ammine solution followed by drying, calcination and reduction of the dried material. The catalyst is useful in hydrogenation reactions.