Reilly Industries And Rutherford Chemicals Combine To Become Vertellus Specialties Inc.
Combination Creates a Leading Life Science and Natural Products Specialty Chemicals Company
New York - Arsenal Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on investments in the specialty chemicals industry sector, announced the creation of Vertellus Specialties Inc., a specialty chemicals company focused on the manufacture of high growth, high-value products for the agricultural, nutritional, pharmaceutical, personal care and performance materials markets.
Vertellus combines the strengths of two specialty chemical producers, Reilly Industries and Rutherford Chemicals, and will provide a diverse array of unique specialty products through three market-focused divisions: Agriculture and Nutrition Specialties, Health and Specialty Products, and Performance Materials. The combined entity will be the technology leader in a number of chemical manufacturing and formulation processes, with a majority of its annual revenue derived from products with leading global market positions.
"We are very excited about the outlook for the combined company," said Robert McNeeley, Chairman of Vertellus. "The very talented leadership of both Reilly and Rutherford will combine to form the executive team of Vertellus, ensuring continuity in both operations and customer relationships. We will continue to drive growth as we always have – through building customer value and a dedication to technological innovation." Mr. McNeeley was formerly President and CEO of Reilly Industries. The executive team of the new firm has significant experience in the specialty and fine chemicals industry.
"Vertellus is a technology leader in many of its end use markets and is ideally positioned to benefit from favorable trends in those markets," said Timothy Zappala, President and Chief Executive Officer of Vertellus. "As the name of the firm indicates, Vertellus produces a number of natural and environmentally friendly products that are seeing rapid growth due to favorable global trends in the agricultural, personal care, plastics and health markets – trends driven by an increased focus on healthy living and aging, change in diets, population growth, and substitution towards environmentally compatible products." Timothy Zappala was previously the President and CEO of Rutherford Chemicals.
Vertellus will hold the number one global market position in the production of pyridine and picolines, specialty pyridine derivatives, castor oil derivatives, polymer additives and systems, DEET, citrate polymer additives and systems and sulfone monomers. It is the second largest global producer of Vitamin B-3. Vertellus' joint venture in Nantong China makes it the only fully operational, commercial-scale producer of many pyridine specialties in China, positioning the company favorably to serve the growing Chinese market.
Mr. Zappala added, "Vertellus will also have a robust new product pipeline, including ZeMac surface modifiers, ZePure biocides and oral care products, and HEMA PC Bio-compatible Polymers."
"Vertellus will leverage substantial market, technological, manufacturing and product development synergies between Rutherford and Reilly," said Barry Siadat, Managing Director at Arsenal Capital. "We are going to work closely with the Company's leadership team to help ensure that these synergies result in enhanced customer focus, profitable growth and substantial cost savings which will drive increased investment value. Given the Company's depth of experience and significant industry knowledge we expect the combination to be a smooth process."
SOURCE: Arsenal Capital Partners