OpenGate pulls Kem One out of administration

Alice Murray
03 January 2014

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Global buyout house OpenGate Capital has acquired European PVC producer Kem One out of administration.

The deal sees OpenGate teaming up with Alain de Krassny to purchase the company and also sees the pair securing an option to acquire downstream operations Kem One Innovative Vinyls. Krassny is a veteran of the European chemicals market; currently president of Austrian chemicals producer Donau-Chemie. According to Plasteurope.com, each party has contributed €5m to the transaction.

Kem One was put into administration by the commercial court of Lyon, France in March 2013. The company was previously owned by the Klesh Group, which had purchased it from Arkema in 2012.

OpenGate was attracted to the business because it saw synergies between its existing holdings in its other PVC business, Profalis. The private equity house was aware of the company's operational challenges and applied for a full-court takeover bid to win the process. The deal took eight months to complete.

Company
Kem One is an upstream producer of PVC resins with operations across seven plants; six in France and one in Spain, plus sales offices in Germany and Italy. The business has production capacity of more than 900,000 tonnes of PVC and 660,000 tonnes of caustic soda per year. Kem One employs more than 1,300 people and generates revenues of around €800m.

When combined with its vinyl division, the enlarged group employs a total of 2,600 people across 22 manufacturing sites predominantly in Europe, as well as in Asia and the US, with revenues of more than €1bn. Kem One Innovative Vinyls is a downstream operation specialising in tubes and compound manufacturing.

People
Alain de Krassny will act as the company's president while current COO Frederic Chalmin has been named director general.

Andrew Kikou is founder, managing partner and CEO of OpenGate. The deal was led by Paris-based OpenGate partners Julien Lagrèze and Sébastien Kiekert Le Moult.

Advisers
Equity - Paul Hastings, Lionel Spizzichino, Edith Boucaya, Mounir Letayf (Legal); Gide Loyrette Nouel, Guillaume Jolly, Edgard Nguyen, Dimitri Dimitrov (Legal); Colbert Avocats, Stephane Vital-Durand (Legal); Cabinet Gartili, Jamal Gartili (Financial due diligence).