Natrium Capital Limited is delighted to announce the closing of the merger of Connell, Wilbur-Ellis Holdings, Inc’s (“Wilbur-Ellis”) Asian Speciality Chemical Distribution business with Caldic B.V. (“Caldic”), owned by Advent International (“Advent”). The transaction creates a global leader in life sciences and industrial and specialty chemicals / ingredients markets, with unique positions in high-growth regions and combined sales of around EUR 3 billion.
We congratulate both parties on a successful merger and wish them a fantastic future together.
Today, the global top league in ingredients and specialty chemicals distribution welcomed a new player in the form of Caldic. On February 28, 2023, the transaction to merge Caldic and Asia-Pacific-based Connell closed, enabling Caldic to position itself firmly alongside the leading players in specialty chemicals distribution.The strong regional presence of Connell helps Caldic to create a unique global growth platform with substantial footholds in two high-growth regions, in Asia-Pacific, and in Latin America, following the merger with GTM last year. The significant global footprint provides unique opportunities to create value for both principals and customers and will drive investments in people, technical expertise and application centres, as well as manufacturing and warehousing sites to support the delivery of innovative and sustainable solutions. The Asia-Pacific region will operate under the Connell Caldic brand.
On October 13, 2022, Advent International, financial sponsor of Caldic, and Wilbur-Ellis, owner of Connell, announced the agreement to combine their life sciences and material sciences distribution businesses focused on nutrition, (bio)pharma, personal care and industrial formulations. The partnership between Advent International and Wilbur-Ellis is founded on a long term shareholder commitment and a shared vision of building a fully integrated growth and innovation focused business.
Alexander Wessels, Caldic Group CEO, stated, “The global scale of our business will unlock multiple opportunities to create value with our business partners. Today’s worldwide reach will make our offering of unique value-added services and products more widely accessible to the food & nutrition, (bio)pharma, personal care and industrial formulation markets, which will fuel new business development potential across the supply chain. Our ambition is to redefine the parameters of added value in the ingredients and specialty chemicals distribution sector, offering our customers a new standard in customized solutions. We are thrilled at the prospect of partnering with the highly skilled and experienced Connell team to deliver these relevant and impactful solutions for our principals and customers alike.”
“We are very excited to embark on our joint journey as part of Caldic,” said Azita Owlia, CEO of Connell Caldic APAC. “Our customers are increasingly demanding customized solutions and extended supply chain services. We are committed to leverage the complementarity and synergies between both companies’ value-added product portfolio and broader manufacturing and distribution facilities, to the benefit of our principals and customers. Asia-Pacific is a high-growth region with tremendous potential and the joint expertise and capabilities will allow us to help our current and new customers to seize such opportunities. Together we can make a much bigger positive impact in the life sciences and material sciences markets.”
Natrium Capital acted as joint advisor to Wilbur-Ellis.
About Natrium Capital Natrium Capital is a corporate finance boutique specialising in the chemical, material, biotechnology, and clean technology industries. Natrium Capital offers high level strategic and M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) execution advice and has a wealth of experience in investment banking and corporate finance. Natrium Capital advises clients in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
Natrium Capital was set up by Alasdair Nisbet in 2012. Find more information at www.natriumcapital.com.
