Altas Partners has agreed to acquire specialty chemicals maker DuBois Chemicals from The Jordan Company.
DuBois is a provider of customized specialty chemicals including more than 7,000 SKUs of cleaners, metalworking fluids, finishing chemicals, lubricants, detergents, sealants, protectants, sanitizers and conditioners. The company, led by CEO Jeff Welsh, has more than 15,000 customers and is based north of Cincinnati in Sharonville, OH (www.duboischemicals.com).
DuBois was founded by T.V. Dubois in 1920 as the Dubois Soap Company and went public in 1960. The company was acquired by W. R. Grace in 1964 and, during the 1990s, was acquired and sold by a parade of companies including Molson (1991), Unilever (1996), and Johnson Wax (2002). The Riverside Company carved out the Dubois from Johnson Wax in 2008 and sold the company in 2012 to Aurora Capital Group. The Jordan Company acquired DuBois in March 2017 from Aurora.
“We are proud of the growth that DuBois has achieved during our ownership period,” said Ian Arons, a partner at The Jordan Company. “DuBois’ tremendous advancements are a testament to Jeff’s strong leadership and the company’s outstanding management team. We expect Altas will be a great next partner for DuBois and look forward to watching the company’s continued success.”
Toronto-based Altas Partners, founded in 2012, makes equity investments of $250 million to $1 billion and typically owns its portfolio companies over a longer-term than other private equity firms. Altas’ manages more than $6 billion of capital and its investing partners include large family offices, insurance companies, pension funds, endowments and foundations.
“Over its 99-year history, Dubois has built its position as a leading international provider of specialty chemical solutions, through a focus on innovation, quality production, and customer service,” said David Brent, a partner at Altas. “For Altas, this investment is the culmination of a multi-year effort to identify a world-class platform and team that we can partner with in the specialty chemicals industry.”
“We chose to partner with Altas because their team shares our conviction and excitement regarding the long-term opportunity for DuBois, making the firm an ideal partner as we enter our next phase of growth,” said CEO Jeff Welsh. “With Altas’ support, we look forward to continuing the development of the business through both organic growth and continued selective acquisitions. We greatly appreciate the support we’ve received from The Jordan Company, and we thank them for their guidance and partnership.”
The Jordan Company is a middle-market private equity firm with over $6 billion of assets under management. The firm was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in New York with an additional office in Chicago.
© 2019 Private Equity Professional | August 28, 2019
