The deal assigns a total enterprise value of $718 million to the business, including around $125 million in net underfunded pension liabilities as of Dec. 31, 2021. In fiscal 2022, which ended on Jun. 30, the Huntsman activities had sales of $772 million and adjusted EBITDA of $94 million.

The soon to be former Huntsman business is regarded as global leader in sustainable specialty chemicals and solutions for industries such as textiles, packaging and paper and paints and coating. The agreement with Archroma was announced on August 9, 2022.

Over the past several years, the Swiss firm, which was bought by US private equity investor SK Capital Partners following its 2013 spinoff from Basel-based specialty chemicals producer Clariant, has made several bolt-on acquisitions. 

In 2014, Archroma took a 49% stake in textile dyes and chemicals manufacturer M. Dohmen and in 2018 bought the remainder. In 2015, it added the global textile chemicals businesses of BASF and in 2019 took over the Ludwigshafen group’s stilbene-based OBA business for paper applications.

After closing the Huntsman deal, Heike van de Kerkhof, Archroma’s group CEO, said the two sides will be able to combine their expert teams and highly complementary product portfolios to offer customers and brand partners the high performance they expect, while respecting natural resources and the planet.

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist