Element Solutions Buys UK Electro-chemicals Firm
US specialty chemicals company Element Solutions has paid about $60 million in cash to buy H.K Wentworth (HKW), a UK-based producer of electro-chemicals for the electronics, LED, automotive and industrial manufacturing industries.
HKW, which Element regards as a global specialist in formulated chemical solutions that include thermal management materials, conformal coatings, encapsulation resins, electronic cleaning solutions and general maintenance products, operates plants in the UK, India and China. The Leicestershire-based company has about 65 employees and generated sales of about $44 million last year.
Commenting on the takeover, Element’s president and CEO Benjamin Gliklich said: “Their Electrolube product line is a direct and attractive adjacency to our electronics portfolio offering high-quality solutions that meet the increasingly important and rigorous requirements to protect electronics hardware in demanding applications. We believe their conformal coatings, thermal interface materials and other encapsulation products are purpose-built for the needs of next generation mobile and automotive electronics. Our global scale and relevant customer intimacy should allow us to grow this business substantially in the near-term.”
HKW’s CEO Ron Jakeman added: “We now have a partner in Element Solutions that will provide global support to help us accelerate our plans. They are the perfect strategic fit and we are excited about the growth opportunities that this partnership will bring to both organizations.”
Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist
