Briar Chemicals owner Aurelius launches sale process

Ryan Gould, Min Ho, Josh OтNeill
12 April 2022

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Aurelius has kicked off a process to sell specialty chemicals manufacturer Briar Chemicals, four sources familiar with the matter said.

The mid-market private equity firm is working with DC Advisory to run an auction for the Norfolk, UK-based group, according to the sources.

Information memoranda have been distributed to a host of financial and strategic buyers, the sources said, with two of them adding that non-binding offers are due at the beginning of May.

Briar Chemicals, which provides chemicals to the crop protection and specialty industrial markets, is being marketed off EBITDA of roughly GBP 10m, the sources said.

Aurelius's decision to push ahead with a sale process for Briar Chemicals comes three years after it first gauged interest in the asset through DC Advisory. The 2019 effort, which was reported by Unquote's sister publication Mergermarket, was more a series of bilateral talks with prospective buyers than a structured process, one of the sources said.

Briar Chemicals derives a large proportion of its revenue from German chemical giant Bayer, with suitors expected to home in on strategies to diversify revenue streams, three of the sources said. Aurelius acquired the company from Bayer for an undisclosed sum in 2012.

Agrochemicals and pest control solutions have become a bright spot for chemical M&A in recent months. PAI Partners is weighing options for Sweden-based Perstorp, while Bayer announced in March that it would sell its Environmental Science Professional division to Cinven Partners for USD 2.6bn (GBP 2bn).

A representative for Aurelius declined to comment. Briar Chemicals and DC Advisory did not respond to requests for comment.