Uni-World, Brightwood Acquire VanDeMark Chemical
20 December 2012 A pair of investment firms have purchased VanDeMark Chemical for an undisclosed sum, signaling the continuation of investment money being funneled into agriculture during the past several years.
Uni-World Capital, a private equity firm, and Brightwood Capital Advisors, a private investment firm, jointly acquired VanDeMark Chemical, a Lockport, New York-based global producer of specialty, intermediate, and catalyst chemicals based on phosgenation chemistry. Brightwood also provided mezzanine financing to VanDeMark. The transaction was sourced through Sidereal Capital, which also invested in the equity and will appoint a director to the company.
VanDeMark, which has produced phosgene and phosgene derivatives since 1951, offers a range of more than 30 chemical compounds used in the production of paints and coatings, pharmaceuticals, plastics and polymers, adhesives and sealants, agricultural products and other end markets.
“VanDeMark is a great company with a blue-chip customer base and significant potential in both existing markets and as yet undeveloped end uses, and we look forward to VanDeMark’s continued growth,” Brightwood Capital Advisors co-founder Sengal Selassie said in a press release.
VanDeMark CEO Mike Kucharski, who joined the company in 1983 and subsequently expanded its phosgene derivatives business, said, “This agreement marries a long-established, successful business with new ownership that believes in the fundamentals of phosgenation chemistry and recognizes its future potential across a broad range of end uses.”
Kucharski added, “Since our spin-off from SNPE in 2007, we have been readying the company’s operations and facilities for expansion. We now have the ownership and financial resources to take the next step in that growth plan.”
VanDeMark has approximately 85 employees and will continue to be based in Lockport, New York. League Park Advisors advised the seller in the transaction.
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