HAL Holdings accepts CVC Capital''s $2.7-billion offer for Univar

10 July 2007

CVC Capital Partners Ltd, Europe''s No. 2 buyout firm, has agreed to acquire Netherlands-based Univar NV , the largest distributor of chemicals in the US, for €1.52 billion ($2.07 billion).

CVC will pay Univar 53.50 euros a share, 37 per cent more than the previous week''s closing price for the scrip, the companies said in a statement.

Rotterdam-based Univar distributes chemicals to 250,000 industrial users in the US. The bid by CVC comes less than three months after Univar bought Chemcentral Corp of Illinois to boost US sales 40 per cent and five days after CVC''s €800-million purchase of Taminco NV, a Belgian maker of chemical ingredients for the pharmaceutical industry from Dutch investment firm AlpInvest Partners NV in an auction.

London-based CVC said it backs expansion in the world''s biggest economy, which grew at its slowest pace since the end of 2002 in the first quarter, and also plans to fund further acquisitions in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Univar has 8,000 employees and more than 200 chemical-distribution centers in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia, it said in the statement. The majority of the company''s products are commodity chemicals bought in bulk and then processed, blended and sold to clients in industries ranging from agriculture and drugs to forestry, food and electronics.

The company''s sales last year totaled $8 billion, including revenue from Chemcentral, which was purchased in the second quarter for $650 million. The acquisition adds $1.4 billion in sales and is being financed through a $1.5 billion loan.