Dresner Partners was the advisor to ChemDesign Products, a portfolio company of Resilience Capital Partners, on its recent sale to Lubar & Co.
“On behalf of the ChemDesign management team, we were impressed by Dresner Partners’ understanding of our business and the industry. Omar Diaz and Paul Hoffman both understood the transition our business went through under Resilience’s ownership and the value this created for the future,” said David Mielke, President and Chief Executive Officer of ChemDesign. “Within an aggressive timeframe, the Dresner team was able to boil down the process to a handful of seriously interested parties. Not only was the deal a success for Resilience, but also for ChemDesign. This was a win-win for all parties involved. Resilience sold a great business, and ChemDesign acquired a great partner with Lubar. Dresner made that happen within the exact timeline they presented.”
ChemDesign is a provider of toll manufacturing services to the global chemical industry. Toll manufacturers provide a processing or manufacturing service on a customer’s product for a fee or toll. ChemDesign has expertise in low pressure hydrogenations, condensation chemistry, multi-step synthesis, methylations and serves the agricultural chemicals, consumer, energy, industrial and plastics industries. Many large chemical companies are increasingly turning to domestic toll processors, such as ChemDesign, to drive potential cost savings, reduce internal assets, and allow them to shift their focus toward research and development and away from non-core processes. ChemDesign was founded in 1982 and is based in Marinette, WI (www.chemdesign.com).
“This transaction is another example of Dresner’s ability to create value by managing aggressive, well-run transaction processes on behalf of our clients. We were honored to work with the well-respected organizations of ChemDesign, Resilience Capital Partners and Lubar & Co.,” said Steven Dresner, President at Dresner Partners.
Dresner Partners is a middle-market investment bank headquartered in Chicago with offices in New York, Connecticut and Los Angeles. Founded in 1991, Dresner Partners provides financial advisory services to business owners and managers, including institutional private placements of debt and equity, merger and acquisitions, valuations and strategic consulting services. Sectors of interest include consumer, food, healthcare, technology, education, financial services and industrials (www.dresnerpartners.com).
“The Dresner team did a great job in orchestrating the entire sale process. Their attention to detail and understanding of the salient business issues enabled us to maximize value for our shareholders,” said Ki Mixon, Partner of Resilience Capital Partners.
Resilience Capital Partners specializes in investing in lower middle market companies across a range of industries. Resilience’s investment strategy is to acquire companies in a variety of special situations including underperformers, corporate divestitures, turnarounds, and orphan public companies. Since its inception in 2001, Resilience has acquired 27 companies under 19 platforms with over $2.5 billion in revenue. The firm is based in Cleveland, OH (www.resiliencecapital.com).
“It was our privilege to work with Bassem Mansour and Ki Mixon of Resilience Capital and Dave Mielke and the rest of the outstanding management team at ChemDesign,” said Omar Diaz, Managing Director at Dresner Partners. “ChemDesign’s revitalized business model, position in the global chemical supply chain and strong relationships with many of the leading players in the chemical industry made it an attractive, highly sought after target. We leveraged our extensive chemical industry experience and relationships with both strategic and private equity buyers to help generate this outstanding outcome for Resilience and ChemDesign.”
© 2012 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 11-30-12
