Italian specialty chemicals company Italmatch Chemicals has agreed to buy BWA Water Additives, a Manchester, UK-headquartered provider of water management technologies for the oil & gas, industrial water treatment and desalination industries. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The combination of the two companies allows the development of strategic, commercial and industrial synergies, Italmatch said.

“This transaction represents a unique opportunity to further increase our business, enhancing our innovative footprint in the water & process treatment applications field, and to continue the group’s growth through high quality, research and development and ‘best-in-class’ technology offerings for the most demanding applications,” said Italmatch’s CEO, Sergio Iorio, who added that BWA also brings a broad range of biocides for industrial water treatment and oil & gas applications.

The acquisition remains subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close during the first quarter of 2019.

In separate news, Italmatch has signed a joint-venture agreement with Saudi Arabia’s SADIG Industries to build an integrated phosphorus complex at Waad Al-Shamal at a total cost of $300 million. No further details on the project were available.

US private equity group Bain Capital acquired Italmatch earlier this year from previous owner, French investment house Ardian.