Heubach and SK Complete Clariant Pigments Buy
Germany‘s Heubach Group and US private equity investor SK Capital Partners have completed their acquisition of Clariant’s global colorants business and integrated it into a new Heubach Group. The share of the Clariant pigments business in Infraserv Höchst, which operates the chemical park at Frankfurt, Germany, was not part of the deal that valued the pigments portfolio at 800-855 Swiss francs.
The acquisition makes the formerly family-owned company based at Langelsheim, Germany, a major global supplier of comprehensive color solutions with a portfolio of organic, inorganic and anti-corrosive pigments, pigment preparations, dyes, colorants and specialty materials. The new Heubach Group, which will have its headquarters at Vienna, Austria, will have sales of around €900 million and employ some 3,000 people at 19 production facilities across Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa.
With effect from Jan. 10, Stefan Doboczky has been named CEO of the new entity. The new chief executive most recently served as CEO of Austrian cellulosics producer Lenzing. Prior to that, he was on the managing board of global Dutch chemical producer DSM, where he held general management roles for nearly two decades.
Clariant holds 20% of the new colorants producer
Clariant has taken a stake of 20% in the reorganized business. By reinvesting, the Swiss group said it could continue benefiting from the improving profitability generated by its ongoing efficiency program as well as participate in future growth opportunities offered by synergies of the combined operation.
CEO Conrad Keijzer stressed that the divestment of the pigments business represents a final step in Clariant’s portfolio repositioning announced in July 2018. He said the Muttenz-headquartered player will reinvest the net cash inflow of 615 million Swiss francs in its core business areas, its ongoing transformation and in further debt reduction.
Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist
Note: An earlier version of this text referred to SK Capital Partners as a Korean company, although it is based in the US. We have corrected this detail.
