One Equity Partners (OEP), a leading middle market private equity firm, has signed a definitive agreement to sell the operating subsidiaries of Sonneborn Holdings L.P. to a subsidiary of HollyFrontier Corporation, an independent petroleum refiner and marketer, for USD655 million. The transaction is expected to close in 2019, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

Founded in 1903, Sonneborn manufactures highly purified white oil, petrolatum, microcrystalline wax, sodium sulfonate and compressor lubricants for personal care, pharmaceutical, food, polymer and metal working applications of 500+ global customers.  Sonneborn is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, U.S.A., and employs approximately 360 people worldwide with three production sites in the U.S.A. and the Netherlands.

One Equity Partners, founded in 2001, spun out of JP Morgan in 2015. The firm has offices in New York and Chicago in the U.S.A., and Frankfurt, Germany. Since 2001, One Equity Partners has completed more than 180 transactions worldwide, with more than USD5 billion in assets under management focused on transformative combinations within the industrial, healthcare and technology sectors in North America and Europe.

“We greatly appreciate the opportunity to partner with Sonneborn management team lead by Paul Raymond, CEO, and the Board of Directors led by Jac Nasser as chairman.  The strategic initiatives that Sonneborn undertook during our partnership have clearly solidified its global leadership position,” said David Han, senior managing director of One Equity Partners.

“We would like to thank OEP and the Board of Directors for their unwavering support of the growth initiatives that we identified together to capitalize globally on new market opportunities enabled by improvements in our manufacturing capacity and supply chain,” said Paul Raymond III, president and CEO of Sonneborn. “We look forward to continuing delivering significant value for our customers as we enter the next phase of our growth.”

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is acting as financial advisor and Baker McKenzie is serving as legal counsel to Sonneborn in connection with this transaction.

HollyFrontier Corporation, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, U.S.A., is an independent petroleum refiner and marketer that produces high-value light products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, and other specialty products. HollyFrontier operates through its subsidiaries a 135,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd) refinery located in El Dorado, Kansas, U.S.A., a 125,000 bpsd refinery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.A., a 100,000 bpsd refinery located in Artesia, New Mexico, U.S.A., a 52,000 bpsd refinery located in Cheyenne, Wyoming, U.S.A., and a 45,000 bpsd refinery in Woods Cross, Utah, U.S.A.

HollyFrontier markets its refined products principally in the Southwest U.S., the Rocky Mountains extending into the Pacific Northwest and in other neighboring Plains states. In addition, HollyFrontier, through its subsidiary, owns Petro-Canada Lubricants Inc., whose Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, facility produces 15,600 barrels per day of base oils and other specialized lubricant products, and owns a 57% interest and a non-economic general partner interest in Holly Energy Partners, L.P.