Advent International (“Advent”), one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors with a well-established track record in chemicals, and Wilbur-Ellis, one of the largest family-owned companies in the world, announced that they have reached an agreement to merge their life sciences and specialty chemicals solutions businesses, Caldic B.V. (“Caldic”) and Connell, to create a global leader in its sector.
Caldic, a global provider of specialty ingredients and chemicals for the life sciences and industrial formulation markets with a major presence in Europe, North America and Latin America, will benefit by increasing its global presence through a merger with Connell, which is one of the major players in Asia-Pacific.
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Under the ownership of Advent and Wilbur-Ellis, the combined company will benefit from two strong shareholders committed to build a leading global platform offering thorough expertise in specialty ingredients and chemicals solutions and distribution in two high-growth regions: in Asia-Pacific with Connell and in Latin America with Caldic-GTM, following Caldic’s merger with GTM in March 2022. By extending Caldic and Connell’s global footprint, the merger will accelerate growth opportunities for both principals and customers and drive further investments into people, technical labs, and sites. Together, Caldic and Connell will have more than 3,800 employees across 43 countries, which provide solutions to over 35,000 customers by leveraging 75 formulation centers and application labs and deep application know-how. The combination will generate sales of about EUR 3 billion.
Ronald Ayles, Managing Partner at Advent International, said: “By bringing together the highly complementary businesses of Caldic and Connell, we will form a truly global business with significant exposure to high-growth regions and very diversified end markets with a high value-add offering. In Wilbur-Ellis, we have found a committed partner who shares our long-term vision of building a fully integrated growth and innovation focused business. We look forward to working together with Wilbur-Ellis and the management teams of both Caldic and Connell in this exciting new chapter which brings synergistic business development opportunities for principals and customers alike.”