Sale of Emerald Performance Materials to American Securities Completed

Emerald Performance Materials, LLC has completed the sale of the company to an affiliate of private equity firm American Securities LLC.  Emerald has been an affiliated portfolio company of Sun Capital Partners since 2006. Headquartered in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Emerald’s industry-leading brands serve a wide range of attractive end markets, including flavors and fragrances, food and beverage, personal and household care, composites, structural adhesives, coatings and plastics. The specialty chemical manufacturer’s portfolio includes benzoic acid and derivatives such as fragrance ingredients and plasticizers, specialty resins, reactive liquid polymers and modifiers, antioxidants, accelerators, colorants, foam control products and other additives. Terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.

“We are excited about the completion of the sale of our company to American Securities and the opportunity to build upon the track record we have established,” said Candy Wagner, president and chief financial officer of Emerald Performance Materials, LLC. “We are extremely proud of our accomplishments during our tenure as a Sun Capital Partners portfolio company – doubling the company’s revenue and achieving a three-fold improvement in EBITDA. Emerald’s employees are enthusiastic about the next step in our future and remain committed to continued innovation and growth of our company, while helping our customers and suppliers achieve their growth goals. We have many exciting opportunities ahead of us and look forward to this next phase as an affiliate of American Securities.”

Scott M. Wolff, managing director at American Securities, commented, “American Securities is committed to supporting the strategic vision of the Emerald management team and investing in continued growth of the company. Emerald represents a compelling investment opportunity and leverages our industry knowledge and track record in the specialty chemicals sector. We look forward to working with management to achieve Emerald’s full potential as the team executes on its strategy to expand its portfolio and global capabilities.”

Emerald was formed in 2006 from the divesture of six specialty chemical businesses from Lubrizol and has since made four additional acquisitions in complementary businesses. Significant investments in new plant equipment have enabled the Company to expand capacity at its Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Kalama, Washington (U.S.) sites in order to meet increased customer demand for benzoic acid and down-stream specialty products such as non-phthalate plasticizers and fragrance ingredients. In addition, the company added assets at its Charlotte facility for expanded production of foam control and specialty silicone materials, increased capacity of its reactive modifiers at Maple Shade, New Jersey, and expanded R&D and pilot plant capabilities at Kalama, Cincinnati, Charlotte, Moorestown and Akron. The company has introduced more than 50 new products to the market since its formation, focusing on expanding its high performance materials and wide range of low- and zero-VOC products in line with industry needs.

Improvements in operational efficiencies and in the company’s environmental footprint have also been an important part of Emerald’s successes. The Company made significant investments in this area, slashing TRI emissions by 52 percent since 2006, the year in which Emerald was formed, exceeding U.S. chemicals industry benchmarks, according to U.S. EPA reports.