An affiliate of middle market private equity firm One Rock Capital Partners (One Rock) has acquired Innophos Holdings (Innophos) an international producer of essential ingredients.In conjunction with the completion of the transaction, Richard Hooper has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Innophos, effective immediately. Hooper is an industry veteran with 40 years of specialty materials experience.
“The closing of this transaction represents an exciting new chapter for Innophos, its employees and customers that furthers its ability to improve quality of life through purpose-built ingredients,” says Hooper. “As a private company, Innophos is expected to have greater flexibility to drive continued growth in its attractive end markets and strengthen its existing operations. I am thrilled to lead Innophos at this important point in its evolution and look forward to leveraging the substantial resources and expertise of One Rock to deliver unparalleled value to our customers.”
Tony W Lee, Managing Partner of One Rock, says: “We are pleased to partner with Innophos, which has established an enviable, market-leading position with comprehensive manufacturing and R&D capabilities. We intend to build on its strong foundation and help enable the Company’s success over the long term by instilling operational and commercial excellence and working to enhance the solutions that Innophos offers to an impressive roster of brands around the world.” One Rock Managing Partner R Scott Spielvogel added, “Having worked closely alongside Richard previously, we are confident he will be able to apply his proven track record of creating value at specialty materials companies to Innophos. Richard is an outstanding leader, and we believe he will align well with the Company’s culture.”
Under the terms of the transaction, the Company’s stockholders will receive USD32.00 in cash for each share of Innophos common stock they hold (without interest and subject to any applicable withholding taxes). The transaction was announced on October 21, 2019 and received approval from Innophos stockholders at a special meeting of the stockholders held on 15 January, 2020. As a result of the completion of the transaction, shares of Innophos common stock have ceased trading and will no longer be listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.
Lazard acted as exclusive financial advisor to Innophos with respect to the transaction, and Baker Botts acted as its legal counsel. Latham & Watkins acted as legal counsel to One Rock, and RBC Capital Markets acted as its financial advisor.
