July 27, 2015
European investment firm Ardian agrees to acquire the Austria-based agrochemicals and fine chemicals business activities of DPx Holdings B.V.
On July 22, Willkie client Ardian, an independent private investment company, announced that it will acquire, together with current management, the Exclusive Synthesis (ES) and Maleic Anhydride Intermediates & Specialties (IM) business from DPx Holdings B.V.
ES and IM are leading European chemical manufacturers in their respective market segments and have a 75-year tradition of translating the latest research results into scalable intermediates and end products. In the context of custom synthesis, ES develops and produces chemical intermediate products for agriculture and other industries. IM produces maleic anhydride, a large number of intermediates, derivatives and esters. With a broad customer base and 390 employees, ES and IM generated combined sales of approximately €200 million in 2014.
Majority owned by its employees, Ardian is an investment company with assets of $50 billion managed or advised in Europe, North America and Asia. The company maintains a global network, with more than 350 employees in offices in Paris, London, New York, Beijing, Frankfurt, Jersey, Luxembourg, Milan, Singapore and Zurich. Willkie recently advised Ardian in its investment in Chal-Tec and its acquisition of ADA Cosmetics.
The current deal was handled by partner Mario Schmidt (Corporate/Private Equity) and national partner Dr. Maximilian Schwab (Corporate/Private Equity) and included partners Jan Wilms (Finance), Dr. Christian Rolf (HR) and associates Christina Mann (Corporate/Private Equity), Daniel Zakrzewski (Corporate/Private Equity), Stefan Bührle (Corporate/Private Equity) and Martin Waskowski (Corporate/Private Equity).
