Private equity firms Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and CVC Capital Partners have signed a definitive agreement for CD&R to acquire a 42.5 per cent ownership interest in Univar, a distributor of commodity and specialty chemicals.
The transaction values the company at approximately USD4.2bn.
Funds advised by CVC will retain a 42.5 per cent stake in the business. The remaining equity will be held by Univar management and other existing investors.
Univar operates a network of 179 distribution facilities and distributes more than 11,000 products and 110,000 SKUs to over 80,000 customers in more than 100 countries.
"Univar’s business profile fits our investment focus perfectly, and we look forward to working with CVC and the Univar management team to continue to build the business," says David H. Wasserman, a CD&R partner. "The company is a clear market leader in an industry with favorable secular trends, broad spread of risk, significant operational improvement runway and attractive geographic expansion opportunities."
"Over the last several months, there has been significant interest in Univar and its growth prospects from private equity investors," says Chris Stadler, managing partner, CVC Capital Partners. "We focused on those investors which would bring significant industry experience and alignment with CVC in the partnership approach with management."
Concurrent with this announcement, Univar has postponed its initial public offering of shares of its common stock and intends to withdraw the registration statement, filed in June 2010, with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for its proposed IPO.
John Zillmer will remain Univar’s president and chief executive officer. CD&R operating partner William S. Stavropoulos, former chairman and chief executive officer of The Dow Chemical Company, will become the non-executive chairman of Univar.
"CD&R is widely respected as a business builder with a deep understanding of our industry and distribution business models," says Zillmer. "We welcome CD&R’s involvement and CVC’s continued commitment to our growth, success and long-term value creation."
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2010.
