SK Capital, a private investment firm with a focus on the specialty materials, chemicals and healthcare sectors, is expected to close the acquisition of the Textile Chemicals, Paper Specialties and Emulsions businesses from Clariant by the end of this month.

The three divisions will be combined into an integrated, market-focused company Archroma, with the new senior leadership team formed by SK Capital to work closely with the current heads of the three business units to ensure a smooth transition to an independent consolidated company.

New leadership team

Aaron Davenport, Managing Director at SK Capital, commented: “We are pleased to bring together a highly skilled and seasoned leadership team that have proven track records of driving growth and improvement in the specialty chemicals industry.”

The new members of the management team and their respective positions are:

• Chief Executive Officer (CEO): Alexander Wessels
• Chief Financial Officer (CFO): Roland Waibel
• Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO): Valérie Robert
• Chief Information Officer (CIO): Vincent Keller
• General Counsel : Hans Lourens

The existing leaders of the three business units who will continue in their current roles at Archoma are Thomas Winkler, President Textile Specialties, Helmut Wagner, President Paper Solutions, and Dominik von Bertrab, President Emulsions Products.

Anticipated growth

Davenport  said: “We are convinced that the combination of this new leadership team together with the strong management currently in place at the textiles, paper, and emulsions businesses will ensure a seamless transition for our customers as well as put the company in position to accelerate growth, enhance business process improvement and drive substantial innovation at Archroma in the future.”

SK Capital believes Archroma will be a world-leading supplier of products and solutions to the textile, paper, adhesives, and coating industries. The revenues are expected to amount to approximately $1.3 billion, with 25 global manufacturing facilities, and approximately 3,000 employees.

The company will be headquartered in Switzerland and its Textile Specialties, Paper Solutions and Emulsions Products businesses will be managed, as they are today, from Singapore, Switzerland and Brazil.

www.archroma.com