Solvay

A winning formula for growth was created with the €200 million sale of Solvay’s Warrington-based Caprolactones business to Swedish-based Perstorp AB.

Solvay is an international chemical and pharmaceutical group with headquarters in Brussels and employs 29,000 people in 50 countries. In 2006, its consolidated sales amounted to € 9.4 billion.

Perstorp, backed by French venture capital house, PAI Partners, is a Swedish specialty chemical group with manufacturing units in 10 countries.

Clearwater were originally appointed in 2005 to sell Solvay’s Caprolactones division when the business was coming out of a loss-making position and the market was in over-supply. A buyer was found, but the deal was shelved at that time as Dow, the largest competitor, was contemplating pulling out of the market. The withdrawal took 15 months to September 2006, when Dow formally announced closure.

Clearwater went to market again at the end of 2006 and obtained interest across the VC community and trade. Through the first half of 2007, profits increased substantially and final offers were sourced on forecast profits leading to the winning bid of € 200 million from Perstorp AB.

The complex deal involved coordinating many international advisers and which was made possible through Clearwater’s strong links with their international organisation, IMAP.

Jorge Grande, Chief Executive of Solvay commented:

“Solvay was very satisfied with the end result of the deal both by the financial achievement but also by the process.

"Our advisors during the deal, Clearwater, were key for both successes. The professionalism during the whole deal and the understanding of every business detail made us forget at times that Clearwater personnel were actually external advisors. An excellent added value result that allowed us to both maximise the deal value and allow the management team to keep running the business effectively through the process.”