Vantage Specialty Chemicals

Vantage Specialty Chemicals, Inc.
Company typePrivate
Industry
Founded2008; 17 years ago (2008)
Headquarters
Chicago, Illinois
,
United States
Key people
  • Stephen Doktycz (CEO)
Parent
Websitewww.vantagegrp.com

Vantage Specialty Chemicals, Inc. is an American speciality chemicals company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Vantage operates through four business units: Personal Care, Performance Materials, Oleochemicals, and Foods.[1]

Its Personal Care unit provides chemical ingredients for hair, skin, sun care and other cosmetic products.[2][3] Vantage Performance Materials produces chemicals with applications in oil and gas, food production, lubricants, precision cleaning and other industry specialties.[4] Vantage is one of the largest oleochemical producers in the United States.[5]

Vantage was formed in 2008 when private equity (PE) firm H.I.G. Capital acquired Uniqema's operations in the United States from Croda International.[6] Uniqema was a global oleochemical manufacturer which was acquired by Croda from Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) in 2006.[7] Under H.I.G.'s ownership, Vantage expanded through a series of acquisitions, including Lambent Technologies in 2008 (which became Vantage's Performance Materials unit) and Lipo Chemicals in 2010 (which became the Personal Care unit).[6][8] H.I.G. then sold Vantage to mid-market PE firm The Jordan Company in 2012.[6][8]

In 2016, Vantage acquired baking products maker Mallet & Co., which became the company's Foods unit.[9]

H.I.G. re-acquired majority ownership in Vantage in 2017 via a leveraged buy-out, with Jordan retaining a minority stake.[10][11][12] The transaction is expected to close in October 2017.[11]

References

  1. ^ "Our Business Units". Vantage Specialty Chemicals, Inc. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  2. ^ "Product Search". Vantage Specialty Chemicals, Inc. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  3. ^ Bird, Katie (2010-07-09). "Lipo Chemicals merges with Vantage to drive personal care growth". CosmeticsDesign.com. William Reed Business Media Ltd. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  4. ^ "Business Units". Vantage Specialty Chemicals, Inc. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  5. ^ "Infiniti Research Identifies Potential Market Opportunities for Oleochemicals in the United States". Infiniti Research. 2017-06-21. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  6. ^ a b c Porter, Kiel; Monks, Matthew (2017-03-09). "Jordan Said to Mull $1.5 Billion Sale of Chemicals Maker Vantage". Bloomberg Markets. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  7. ^ "Croda Announces the Acquisition of Uniqema from ICI". Croda International. 2006-07-03. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  8. ^ a b "H.I.G. Capital Completes Sale of Vantage Specialty Chemicals". H.I.G. Capital. 2012-01-05. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  9. ^ Gough, Paul J. (2016-08-08). "Carnegie baking-products company acquired". Pittsburgh Business Times. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  10. ^ Larsen, Keith (2017-09-25). "HIG Capital signs agreement to acquire chemical company". South Florida Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  11. ^ a b "H.I.G. Capital Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Vantage Specialty Chemicals". H.I.G. Capital. 2017-09-20. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  12. ^ Berlin, Andrew (2017-09-26). "LPC: Banks provide $710 million of loans for Vantage Specialty LBO". Reuters. Retrieved 2017-09-29.