Permira will exit its investment in Arysta LifeScience, a global provider of crop solutions with expertise in agrochemical and biological products, for $3.51 billion. Platform Specialty Products will purchase the rival chemical company in an effort to diversify its public offerings.
Permira declined to comment on the transaction.
Sources familiar with the deal say that Permira will realize a 1.7x return in euro terms, before any potential share price appreciation. The exit price represents a 11.9x last 12 months’ EBITDA as of June 2014. Permira invested in Arysta in 2007 from its fourth fund, a €9.6 billion vehicle. Arysta was Permira’s first acquisition in Japan.
Miami-based Platform makes speciality chemicals used in computers, cars and oil rigs. Arysta’s president and chief executive officer, Wayne Hewett, is expected to join Platform’s senior leadership team as its president and to lead Platform’s three agrochemical businesses in co-operation with management teams from Chemtura AgroSolutions, Agriphar, and Arysta. Hewett has led Arysta since 2009.
Platform says the combined entity will offer one of the world’s most comprehensive line-ups of traditional and non-traditional crop solutions, and will have an operating footprint in over 100 countries. Platform expects to realise in excess of $65 million in synergies from the combination of Arysta, CAS and Agriphar over the next three years. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015, subject to regulatory approval.
Barclays, Credit Suisse, UBS Investment Bank and Nomura Securities International have committed financing for the acquisition.Shares of Platform were up 76 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $25.05 in morning trading on Monday. In June, Permira closed its fifth fund on the €5.3 billion hard-cap, according to PEI Media’s research and analytics division.
Reporting by Bailey McCann
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