28th Apr 2006 07:00
Clariant28 April 2006 April 28, 2006Media ReleaseClariant International Ltd Clariant sells Pharmaceutical Fine Chemicals to TowerBrook Capital Partners MUTTENZ, Switzerland, April 28, 2006 - Clariant today announced the sale of itsPharmaceutical Fine Chemicals unit to TowerBrook Capital Partners, L.P. for atransaction value of approximately CHF 110 million. The sale marks a furtherstep in Clariant's strategy to focus its portfolio on core activities. The unit manufactures building blocks, regulatory starting materials,intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for both theinnovative and the generic pharmaceutical industry. At the deal's completion,the new autonomous entity will be one of the world's largest businesses basedsolely on pharmaceutical fine chemicals, with 2005 sales of around CHF 210million and about 800 employees. It will operate all manufacturing sites ofClariant Pharmaceutical Fine Chemicals and will be headquartered in Frankfurt amMain, Germany. The new entity has strong opportunities for profitable growth as a result of therestructuring efforts and the successful implementation of its new strategy inthe pharmaceutical business. As previously announced, new contracts with majorcustomers were signed in recent months. For example, Clariant PharmaceuticalFine Chemicals was selected by Roche as a supplier for key materials in themanufacturing supply chain of Tamiflu(R). The agreed selling price of CHF 110 million includes an earn-out participationof CHF 40 million. This earn-out participation, to be paid in two years' time,reflects the strong prospects of the unit. The deal is expected to close in thesecond quarter after fulfillment of local transfer requirements such as approvalof the competition authorities, resulting in net cash proceeds of approximatelyCHF 40 million and a book loss of approximately CHF 80 million. All assets andpersonnel will be transferred and the business will be managed on a stand-alonebasis. Jan Secher, Clariant's Chief Executive, said: "The Pharmaceutical Fine Chemicalsbusiness sharpened its strategy and improved its efficiency, enabling it tobecome one of the industry's leading suppliers. As an independent entitysupported by a committed investor, it has an excellent opportunity to performwell in the future. On the Clariant side, this is another important step infocusing our business portfolio on innovative applications with value-increasingservice components." James Harrison, Managing Director of TowerBrook, said: "As a supplier to thepharmaceutical industry, the Pharmaceutical Fine Chemicals business is in anexcellent position to benefit from the increasing trend towards outsourcing tospecialist providers. Together with management, we plan to grow the businessthrough new capital investment and through appropriate acquisitions." About TowerBrook TowerBrook Capital Partners, L.P. is a private equity firm with more than $2.5billion under management. The firm has offices in London and New York andfocuses on making investments in European and North American companies.TowerBrook pursues control-oriented private equity investments in large andmiddle market companies, partnering with highly capable management teams andseeking situations characterized by complexity. TowerBrook invests primarily inleveraged buy-outs, leveraged build-ups and distressed situations.www.towerbrook.com Contacts: Investor Relations Fax +41 61 469 67 67Holger Schimanke Phone +41 61 469 67 45Fabian Hildbrand Phone +41 61 469 67 49 Phone +41 61 469 67 48 Media Relations Fax +41 61 469 69 99Walter Vaterlaus Phone +41 61 469 61 58Rainer Weihofen Phone +41 61 469 67 42 TowerBrookGill Ackers/Conor McClaffertyBrunswick Group LLP Phone +44 20 7404 5959 Clariant - Exactly your chemistry. Clariant is a global leader in the field of specialty chemicals. Strong businessrelationships, commitment to outstanding service and wide-ranging applicationknow-how make Clariant a preferred partner for its customers. Clariant, which is represented on five continents with over 100 group companies,employs about 23 000 people. Headquartered in Muttenz near Basel, it generatedsales of around CHF 8.2 billion in 2005. Clariant's businesses are organized in five divisions: Textile, Leather & PaperChemicals, Pigments & Additives, Functional Chemicals, Life Science Chemicalsand Masterbatches. Clariant is committed to sustainable growth springing from its own innovativestrength. Clariant's innovative products play a key role in its customers'manufacturing and treatment processes or else add value to their end products.The company's success is based on the know-how of its people and their abilityto identify new customer needs at an early stage and to work together withcustomers to develop innovative, efficient solutions. www.clariant.com. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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