VION Biosciences, a new life science platform company of Iron Path Capital, has completed its first acquisition with the buy of Aldon Corporation.
Aldon is a private label and contract manufacturer of liquid and powder chemicals used in life science applications in the healthcare and STEM education sectors. The company also has blending, repackaging, and kitting services. Aldon produces more than 7,000 laboratory and industrial chemicals in 13,000 sizes and configurations and offers more than 500 types of educational kits – used in elementary schools through college – which include a teacher’s manual, student guide, and all chemical materials needed for the kits experiments and lab work.
Aldon, led by President Alex Molinich, was founded in 1964 and is headquartered southwest of Rochester in Avon, New York. “I look forward to continuing to drive Aldon forward as part of the VION executive team,” said Mr. Molonich. “This collaboration will allow us to diversify into markets we have not reached until now, which will help us grow and continue to meet customer needs.”
VION was created by Iron Path to build a platform focused on chemical and specialty reagent products alongside value-added services, which enable scientific discovery, clinical testing, and therapeutic development – from research to commercialization – in the biopharmaceuticals and molecular diagnostics sectors. The VION platform is led by Mark Thornton, a former executive of Avantor, a provider of laboratory chemicals, reagents, instruments and equipment used in research, development, and production in the life sciences industry.
“We see tremendous opportunity in the life science market to support those customers raising new technologies in the bioprocessing, diagnostic, and education segments to support both their research endeavors as well as their manufacturing and commercialization efforts through bringing together an enriched portfolio of critical reagents, specialty chemicals, and custom services to fit their very specialized set of needs,” said Mr. Thornton. “Aldon’s diverse set of capabilities and broad portfolio of chemical products are uniquely positioned to serve as the initial catalyst in the creation of VION Biosciences and its core mission ahead.”
“The creation of VION Biosciences marks Iron Path’s second platform investment in the specialty chemicals and life science sectors,” said Scott Mraz, a founding partner of Iron Path. “We are excited to partner with Mark and believe the acquisition of Aldon is an important first step in VION’s growth strategy.”
Iron Path Capital is an investor in lower-middle market companies that are active in the specialty industrial and healthcare sectors and have EBITDA of $5 million to $15 million. The firm was founded in 2021 by Rob Reistetter, a former principal at Quad-C, and Scott Mraz, a former senior executive of several Quad-C portfolio companies. Iron Path has offices in Nashville, Tennessee, and Charlottesville, Virginia.
© 2023 Private Equity Professional | August 8, 2023
