Japan’s Kurita Buys US/UK Water Treatment Company

Japanese manufacturer of water treatment and process treatment chemicals, Kurita Water Industries, has agreed to buy Avista Technologies in the US (A-US), together with its UK subsidiary, Avista Technologies (UK) Ltd. (A-UK), for $82 million.

The Tokyo-headquartered firm said the acquisition will boost its portfolio of reverse osmosis (RO) chemicals, which are water treatment chemicals applied to RO membranes, one of the components of water treatment facilities.

Kurita’s wholly owned subsidiaries, Kurita America Holdings and Kurita Europe, have signed a stock transfer agreement with four senior managers who are shareholders of Avista Technologies in the US and UK. The stock transfer was planned to take place on May 15.

Besides manufacturing and selling many types of RO chemicals, A-US also offers services such as RO membrane cleaning. Its customers are spread across a wide range of industries, including chemicals, mining, oil, offshore oil field, food and beverage, as well as local government. It posted sales of $23 million for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2018.

The UK subsidiary operates a similar business in Europe, Middle East & Africa under licenses granted by A-US and recorded sales of nearly £4.5 million for the financial year ending Dec. 31, 2018.

The deal follows another acquisition in the water treatment chemicals space in March this year, namely that of U.S. Water Services. Kurita, through its wholly owned subsidiary Kurita America Holdings, paid $270 million for the firm, strengthening and accelerating its growth in the North American market.

Headquartered in Minnesota, U.S. Water Services has manufacturing and sales offices across the country, supplying roughly 5,000 customers, including blue-chip companies, in industries such as food and beverage, oil & gas, bioethanol refining, electric power and light, as well as commercial and public facilities. The company had net sales of $172 million in 2018 and employs around 500 people.

Kurita said it expects the addition of U.S. Water to increase its Stateside revenues fourfold.