Dussur acquires stake in Italmatch Chemicals from Bain Capital

Dussur, the Saudi Arabian Industrial Investments Company, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a stake in Italmatch Chemicals, a global specialty chemical additive manufacturer based in Genova, Italy, from Bain Capital Private Equity, a leading global private investment firm. Italmatch Chemicals was acquired by Bain Capital Private Equity in 2018.

Concurrent with the acquisition, Dussur will invest an additional EUR100 million (USD105.7 million) to increase the capitalization of Italmatch Chemicals.

Dussur’s interest in Italmatch is expected to be less than 20%, following completion of both the stake sale and the capital increase. Both are expected to occur within the first half of 2023 subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Italmatch generated approximately EUR858 million (USD906.9 million) in sales revenues and EUR160 million (USD169.1 million) in EBITDA in the last 12 months ending September 2022. It operates nine manufacturing plants in EMEA (Italy, Spain, Germany, UK, Poland, and Saudi Arabia), five in Asia Pacific (China, Japan and India), five in North America (U.S.A.), and seven state of the art innovation centres.

Founded in 1997 by current CEO Sergio Iorio, Italmatch is a leading global manufacturer of specialty chemical additives, operating across four key business units: Advanced Water Solutions, Lubricant Performance Additives, Flame Retardants and Plastic Additives, and Personal Care and Performance Additives. 

Through the transaction with Dussur, Italmatch will re-enforce its presence and existing partnership in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia, contributing to regional economic diversification, growth and localisation of industrial value chains and capabilities to meet regional and global demand.

“In partnership with Bain Capital we have continued to build upon our global reputation with our customers and partners for high-quality innovative products and “solutions” and displayed strong growth. Partnering with Dussur will significantly strengthen our existing presence in the Middle East region, which we see as a fast-growing market opportunity in our areas of expertise and end markets and enable us to expand our offering in a highly strategic high growth market also through a strong local presence,” said Iorio.

“We believe this investment shows strong synergies with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Downstream and Specialties Chemical Strategy, as it represents a step closer towards fulfilling our mandate to localize new capabilities in the Kingdom through partnering with Italmatch, a globally recognized leading specialty additives chemical company,” said Raed Al-Rayes, CEO of Dussur.

In June, Italmatch Chemicals acquired Aubin Group, a supplier of innovative chemical solutions for the oil and gas industry and the renewable energy sector with facilities across the UK and the Middle East. The acquisition of Aubin Group represented another step of Italmatch Group’s growth strategy in areas of interest, such as the Middle East, Iorio said.