One of private equity firm CI Capital Partners’ portfolio companies, Maroon Group – a distributor of life science ingredients and specialty chemicals – is to be acquired by Barentz International, a global life science distributor, and portfolio company of Cinven. The companies expect to complete the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, later this year. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Maroon was acquired by CI Capital in partnership with the company’s management team in 2014. Under CI Capital’s ownership, Maroon completed 11 add-on acquisitions, expanded from a regional distributor focused on coatings and adhesives end markets to a leading North American distributor serving multiple attractive end markets – increasing revenues by over 450%. Today, the company serves more than 5,700 customers in the U.S. and Canada, distributing over 6,000 products from a diversified base of strategic suppliers.
Joost Thesseling, Managing Director at CI Capital, says: “We are grateful to have had the opportunity to support Terry and the Maroon management team in executing Maroon’s buy-and-build strategy, which allowed Maroon to become a leading North American distributor of specialty ingredients and chemicals. We thank the Maroon team for their hard work, and congratulate them on a fantastic outcome for all of Maroon’s stakeholders. We wish them and Barentz all the best in the future.”
Maroon Group will continue to be led by CEO Terry Hill, who joined the Company’s board of directors in 2017, and assumed the CEO role in 2019. Hill previously spent 30 years with Univar, where he served as Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer, President of Univar US, and also managed ChemPoint, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America during his tenure.
Hill says: “With CI Capital’s support, Maroon transformed itself from a regional CASE and Plastics distributor based in the Midwest into the broad business it is today. Together, we have built a great company and we are gratified that Barentz has recognised the immense upside in the unique position we have. Maroon fits seamlessly into Barentz’ global product portfolio, and with leading industry experts and several specialised application laboratories, both businesses share a commitment towards leveraging industry and technical knowledge to support our suppliers’ and customers’ business development.”
Moelis & Company LLC and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP advised Maroon on the transaction. Kirkland & Ellis LLP advised Barentz on the transaction.
