Private investment firm Highlander Partners has sold its portfolio company, SensoryEffects, to Balchem Corporation, a publicly-traded human and animal health and wellness company.
The purchase price was USD567 million, before working capital and other adjustments.
The sale represents the culmination of eight years of collaboration and enterprise building between Highlander Partners and SensoryEffects' founder, chairman and CEO Charles A Nicolais and the management team he assembled.
Nicolais approached Highlander Partners nine years ago with a business plan he had developed to consolidate and professionalize certain segments of the food ingredient manufacturing industry.
Nicolais' vision was to create a "custom solutions house" that would develop unique solutions to customers' product challenges, whether they be imparting sensory attributes (such as taste, aroma, texture or colour) or manufacturing improvements (delivering ingredients in a form that better enabled the next step of the manufacturing process).
SensoryEffects was backed by Highlander Partners and the company's first acquisition in spring of 2006 was Diehl, a 125 year old family-owned business in Defiance, Ohio, with revenues of approximately USD15 million. After eight years and 12 additional acquisitions, SensoryEffects has six manufacturing sites that in 2014 are expected to generate revenues and EBITDA of USD260 million and USD53 million, respectively.
Nicolais says: "Highlander is proud of its association with Charles, his team and everyone at SensoryEffects. We truly believe that Balchem has acquired an exceptional company that is well positioned for future growth. We wish Charles and his team as well as SensoryEffects' new owners great fortune for years to come."
