H.I.G. Capital Announces Agreement to Acquire the Building Block Chemicals Division of Cytec Industries
MAIMI – January 31, 2011 – H.I.G. Capital, LLC (“H.I.G.”), a leading global private investment firm, announced today that an affiliate has signed an agreement to purchase the Building Block Chemicals (“BBC”) division of Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE: CYT) (“Cytec”). BBC is a leading manufacturer of key intermediate chemicals critical for the manufacturing of a broad array of products used in water treatment, agriculture, furniture and flooring, performance coatings and others. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.
Based in Waggaman, LA on a large 800-acre facility, BBC is the sole manufacturer of melamine in North America, a leading producer of acrylonitrile in the U.S. and an important supplier of sulfuric acid in the Gulf region. As a supply partner to global chemical companies, BBC is recognized in the industry for its high product quality, reliability and customer service.
The existing management team, which is led by Greg Zoglio, vice president of BBC, will continue to manage and operate the standalone company.
“H.I.G. is very excited about this unique opportunity to carve out a successful and autonomous division from a chemicals leader like Cytec. With our growth-oriented investment approach, we see tremendous opportunities to invest in BBC’s infrastructure and people to strengthen the company’s global competitiveness. We believe that not only our capital, but also our extensive chemicals experience will enable us to identify and pursue untapped avenues of growth,” said Rick Rosen, an Executive Managing Director at H.I.G.
Bill Avrin, Vice President of Corporate and Business Development of Cytec, added, “BBC has been a valuable asset for Cytec for decades. As Cytec increasingly focused on our specialty chemicals and materials businesses, we felt that it was important to find a good home for BBC and we believe that we have achieved that through the H.I.G. transaction. BBC will continue to be an important supplier to Cytec, and we look forward to watching BBC flourish as a fully independent company.”
About H.I.G. Capital
H.I.G. Capital is a leading global private equity investment firm with more than $8.5billion of equity capital under management. Based in Miami, and with offices in Atlanta, Boston, New York, and San Francisco in the U.S., as well as affiliate offices in London, Hamburg and Paris in Europe, H.I.G. specializes in providing capital to small and medium-sized companies with attractive growth potential. H.I.G. invests in management-led buyouts and recapitalizations of profitable and well-managed service or manufacturing businesses. H.I.G. also has extensive experience with financial restructurings and operational turnarounds. Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 200companies worldwide. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at https://www.hig.com.