Advent to merge Caldic with Wilbur-Ellis' Connell

Ero Partsakoulaki
14 October 2022

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Advent International and Wilbur-Ellis have agreed to merge their life sciences and specialty chemicals solutions businesses, Caldic and Connell, to extend their global reach.

Azita Owlia, Connell's president and CEO, will serve as CEO of the combined Asia-Pacific entities that will operate under the Connell brand name, a source familiar with the matter told Unquote. All other units will continue to operate under Caldic, the source added.

The merger, expected to close in Q1 2023, will accelerate growth opportunities for both businesses and their customers and drive further investments into people, technical labs and sites, according to a press release.

Shareholders are always looking for opportunities as "this market is still very fragmented and there are many companies that can benefit from Caldic's strong platform," said the source.

Dutch chemical distributor Caldic, which has been backed by Advent since November 2021, already has a presence in Europe, North America and Latin America, following its merger with Brazil-based GTM (Grupo Transmerquim) in March 2022. San Francisco-based Connell has significant presence in the Asia-Pacific region with a local presence of over 125 years.

Focused on nutrition, pharma and industrial formulations, the combined company will generate sales of about EUR 3bn, according to the announcement. Under the ownership of Advent and Wilbur-Ellis, the combination will have more than 3,800 employees across 43 countries, providing solutions to over 35,000 customers via 75 formulation centres and application labs.

Advent International GPE X, the GP's latest fund, was launched in January 2022 and held a final close at USD 25bn in May 2022, according to Unquote Data. The fund is expected to follow the high-held strategy of its predecessor funds and invest in companies from the healthcare, industrial, consumer, TMT and retail sectors, mainly from North America and Europe.

People
Advent International − Ronald Ayles (managing partner).
Wilbur-Ellis − John Buckley (president and CEO).
Caldic − Alexander Wessels (CEO).
Combined company −Azita Owlia (CEO).

Advisers
Wilbur-Ellis and Connell − Rabobank and Natrium Capital (joint financial advisors).