Vertellus Specialties completed its acquisition of Dow Chemical's ($DOW) sodium borohydride business in a deal estimated to be more than $200 million as it expands its footprint in the life sciences sector.
It's the second big purchase for Vertellus, which snapped up U.K.-based chemical manufacturer Pentagon Chemicals in November. Terms of that deal weren't disclosed, though the company told the Indianapolis Business Journal the Pentagon acquisition was expected to add about $47 million in revenues.
As part of the Dow deal, Indianapolis-based Vertellus gets a manufacturing facility in Elma, WA. Sodium borohydride is used to make APIs that are key ingredients for producing drugs to treat HIV as well as other medications.
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| Vertellus CEO Rich Preziotti |
"The integration of the SBH (sodium borohydride) business into Vertellus' asset structure enhances the size, scale and scope of our offerings in the high-growth synthesis segment, providing new tools to serve global pharma manufacturers' needs," Rich Preziotti, Vertellus' chief executive, said in a statement.
When the deal was announced by Dow in December it said the sale to Vertellus was one of two recent divestitures by the chemical giant that combined amounted to $225 million. A Dow spokeswoman told the IBJ that the purchase of the sodium borohydride business was "the bulk" of the $225 million.
Vertellus was bought in 2007 by Wind Point Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm.
- see the Vertellus release
- check out the IBJ story