Warwick International in £129m MBO
WARWICK International, the North Wales-based global chemicals group, has undergone a £129m management buyout lead by Close Brothers Private Equity (CPBE).
The deal was funded by a banking club led by The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). The management team, led by chief executive Bob Ellis, has acquired the business from US parent company Sequa Corporation.
CBPE invested £55m alongside £85m of senior debt, mezzanine and working capital facilities from a club including RBS, Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets.
Based in Mostyn, North Wales, Warwick International has two divisions, one of which manufactures bleach activators mainly for use in domestic detergents, while the other is a chemical distribution business operating in a number of European countries and the Far East.
Warwick has for many years been owned by Sequa Corporation, a diverse industrial group headquartered in New York and until recently listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Negotiations for the deal started in early 2007 but were put on ice for a while when Sequa itself was taken over by US private equity house Carlyle.
The £180m-turnover business is looking for expansion through organic growth and bolt-on acquisitions.
Adam Palmer, managing director of The Carlyle Group, said: “The divestiture is consistent with Carlyle’s original strategy for Sequa, which was to evaluate its entire portfolio of businesses and divest or restructure certain non-core assets in order to re-shape and focus the business – particularly on its largest division Chromalloy Gas Turbine Corporation.”
