Arsenal Capital Partners has acquired Evonik Industries’ global colorants business

Lincoln International, a leading independent mid-market investment bank, today announced its role as exclusive financial adviser to Arsenal Capital Partners in its recently completed acquisition of Evonik Industries’ global colorants business to form Chromaflo Technologies LLC, the largest independent global pigment dispersion platform.

Headquartered in Ashtabula, Ohio, Plasticolors, Inc. was founded in 1970 and is a leading supplier of pigment and chemical dispersions to the thermoset composites and industrial paint and coatings industries. The company’s colorants can be found in a wide variety of products including industrial coatings, interior and exterior automotive components, epoxy flooring, electrical and appliance housings and a myriad of other paints, coatings, and molded composite applications.

Earlier in March, Arsenal Capital announced the acquisition of Evonik Industries’ Colortrend global colorants business. The combined company, called Chromaflo Technologies, will be headquartered in Ashtabula, Ohio and will have production facilities in the U.S., Canada, The Netherlands, and Australia. Chromaflo Technologies also has sales and technical capabilities throughout North and South America, Europe, Australia, China, Malaysia, and India.

“We partnered with the Plasticolors team, led by CEO Scott Becker, to bring together these two complementary players in the colorants industry,” said Timothy Zappala, a Partner at Arsenal and Co-Head of the firm’s Specialty Industrials Group. “Colortrend provides color systems to the architectural and industrial coatings markets while Plasticolors is the leading provider of custom pigment solutions to thermoset plastics and industrial coatings markets. The combination creates a leading independent global pigment dispersion platform positioning the new company to address the increasingly complex customer technical requirements in a multitude of applications and end markets.”

Scott Becker, who will lead Chromaflo Technologies as CEO, brings a wealth of experience in the colorants marketplace. “Chromaflo Technologies’ diverse manufacturing capability, broad base of technologies and strong customer focus by an experienced team will enable us to meet customers’ varied requirements on both a local and global basis. We will be transferring Plasticolors’ technologies for the thermoset plastics markets to the operations in Europe and Asia Pacific to serve customers in these regions. Additionally, the technologies developed for in-plant tinting for industrial coating applications will be made available in these regions. I look forward to working with the Arsenal team to further build Chromaflo Technologies’ market and application reach,” said Mr. Becker.

“Because of Arsenal’s deep expertise in the specialty chemicals sector we were able to complete this innovative transaction and create Chromaflo Technologies,” said John Televantos, a Partner at Arsenal and Co-Head of the firm’s Specialty Industrials Group. “With this merger we have created a company with the scale and range of product technologies that has the immediate critical mass to be a leading global player in the pigments dispersion market.”

Lincoln International initiated the transaction and served as the exclusive financial advisor to Arsenal Capital Partners. Lincoln worked with Arsenal throughout the acquisition process providing advisory expertise and assisting in the due diligence and negotiation phases of the transaction.

Federico Mennella, Managing Director and Co-Head of Lincoln International’s Global Chemical practice, commented, “We are delighted to have had the opportunity of working with Arsenal on both these important transactions. Chromaflo Technologies is poised to grow its business across many geographies and markets. We look forward to working with Arsenal and Chromaflo Technologies’ management to build this business into the leading independent global pigment dispersion platform.”

About Arsenal Capital Partners

Arsenal Capital Partners is a leading New York-based private equity firm that invests in middle market specialty industrial, healthcare and financial services companies. Arsenal makes investments in sectors where the firm has significant prior knowledge and experience. Arsenal targets businesses that have the potential for further value creation by working closely with management to accelerate growth and leverage the firm’s operational improvement capabilities. Arsenal currently has $800 million of committed equity capital. For additional information on Arsenal Capital Partners, please visit www.arsenalcapital.com.

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