Century Park Capital Partners and Akoya Capital Partners have sold ICM Silicones Group to CHT Group, a specialty chemicals conglomerate headquartered in Germany.
ICM is a formulator and manufacturer of specialty silicone materials. The company’s product catalog includes over 800 proprietary formulations spanning emulsions, elastomers, antifoams, gels and gums. ICM sells its specialty silicone products to over 2,000 customers operating in the automotive, cosmetics, electronics, food processing, industrial, personal care and thermal management end markets. ICM was founded in 1989 and is led by CEO Levi Cottington. The company is headquartered in the southwestern Michigan city of Cassopolis and has additional manufacturing operations in Richmond, VA; Bridgwater, UK; Milan, Italy and Tianjin, China (www.icm-silicones.com).
In 2012, Century Park acquired majority control of ICM in partnership with Akoya from Ken Charboneau, a former Dow silicones chemist who founded the company in 1989. During the term of Century Park’s and Akoya’s ownership, ICM’s revenues and earnings increased approximately threefold though a combination of organic growth and add-on acquisitions. The first add-on acquisition was the buy of Path Silicones, a manufacturer of a complementary range of silicone polymers. Then in April 2014, ICM acquired the Amber Chemical Company, a UK-based maker of silicone emulsion and elastomer applications. At the time of the acquisition, Amber Chemical had five operating subsidiaries: QSi (Richmond, VA); Siovation (Lawrenceville, GA); Treco (Milan, Italy); ACC Silicones (Bridgwater, UK); and ACC Silicones (Tianjin, China). The buy of Amber Chemical greatly expanded ICM’s geographic and end market reach and bolstered its already strong presence in specialty emulsions. Century Park and Akoya also invested in ICM’s infrastructure and in January 2016 the company opened two new research and development laboratories in Cassopolis and Tianjin.
“Century Park and Akoya have been invaluable partners for ICM. Their support of large investments in new labs, people and R&D resources, as well as add-on acquisitions, allowed ICM to become the global leader it is today,” said Mr. Cottington.
“ICM has grown into a truly global silicones player that can meet the formulation needs of the industry’s most demanding end customers. We are proud to have helped build one of the largest independent silicone specialty chemical formulators in the world,” said Martin Sarafa, Managing Partner with Century Park.
Century Park invests from $10 million to $40 million in middle-market companies that have revenues of $20 million to $100 million and EBITDA of $3 million to $15 million. Sectors of interest include chemicals, medical products and services, business services, engineered products, and consumer products. The firm is based near Los Angeles in El Segundo, CA (www.centuryparkcapital.com).
“Our partnership is delighted that under our ownership we were able to help ICM aggressively transition itself from a single location regional business to a successful multi-site global enterprise. We are convinced that the best days of ICM are ahead of it,” said Don Stanutz, Akoya Managing Director.
Akoya Capital Partners invests in US-based companies with revenues from $20 million to $200 million and EBITDA of at least $3 million. Sectors of interest include specialty chemicals, industrial products and distribution, consumer foods and products, and professional information services. The firm is headquartered in Chicago (www.akoyacapital.com).
The CHT Group, the buyer of ICM, is a global manufacturer of specialty chemicals. The company has approximately 2,000 employees and operates in more than 120 countries. CHT Group was founded in 1953 and is headquartered near Stuttgart in Tübingen, Germany (www.cht.com).
KeyBanc Capital Markets was the financial advisor to ICM on this transaction.
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | August 29, 2017
