By Shayndi Raice
The chemicals empire of serial acquirer Martin E. Franklin is
about to expand further.
Platform Specialty Products Corp. of the U.S. is nearing a deal
to buy U.K.-listed specialty-chemicals maker Alent PLC for about
$2.3 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The
transaction is expected to be announced Monday, the people
said.
Platform is to pay 503 pence ($7.80) per share for Alent, with
78% of the consideration in cash and 22% in shares, the people
said. That is 49% above Alent's closing price Friday of 337.7
pence.
With the backing of heavyweights including William Ackman, Mr.
Franklin created Platform in 2013 as a vehicle to buy
specialty-chemicals companies. It is a familiar strategy for the
50-year-old Mr. Franklin, who acquired niche consumer-products
brands to build Jarden Corp. and more recently launched
frozen-foods business Nomad Holdings Ltd. Separately, Mr.
Franklin's Jarden is close to acquiring packaging-goods maker
Waddington Group for $1.35 billion from buyout firm Olympus
Partners, said a person familiar with the matter. That news was
reported earlier by Bloomberg.
Mr. Franklin serves as chairman of the Platform board, with
Chief Executive Daniel Leever leading the company's management.
In 2013 Platform paid about $1 billion for MacDermid Inc., a
specialty-chemicals company that is a direct competitor of Alent.
Since then, Platform has spent about $5 billion on acquisitions in
the agrochemicals industry, including deals for Arysta LifeScience
Ltd., Agriphar SA and Chemtura AgroSolutions.
Alent runs two businesses, both headquartered in the U.S. One,
called Enthone, produces chemicals used as coatings for cellphones
and cars and competes with MacDermid. The other, known as Alpha,
produces materials for assembling electronics.
Platform plans to combine Enthone with the MacDermid business,
the people familiar with the matter said, which would make the
resulting operation a bigger competitor to companies owned by Total
SA and Dow Chemical Co. that make chemicals for electronics and
surface treatments.
Antitrust approval will likely be required for the deal, but
executives at the companies expect to be able to complete the
transaction because they aren't seeking dominant global market
share, one of the people said.
Platform expects $50 million of annual cost savings from the
acquisition, the people said.
Mr. Franklin is known for buying companies that are leaders in
niche businesses and require little capital investment. They
usually generate a significant amount of cash that he can use for
future deals. The Alent acquisition follows a similar playbook.
Alpha, one of Alent's two U.S.-based businesses, generates
significant cash and will stand alone. Platform could use the cash
to acquire other competitors in the business, one of the people
said.
Alent had net sales of GBP413 million ($641 million) in 2014,
down 1.7% from the year earlier. The company has been restructuring
its business to rein in costs. Its adjusted profit before tax rose
4% to GBP91.5 million.
A deal for Alent would be the third Mr. Franklin has announced
lately. In April, Nomad, created with financier Noam Gottesman,
said it was buying European frozen-foods company Iglo Foods
Holdings Ltd. for $2.8 billion. Platform also said in June it
planned to buy part of OM Group's chemicals business for $365
million.
Nomad is also in discussions about buying another European
frozen-foods brand, Findus Group.
Write to Shayndi Raice at shayndi.raice@wsj.com
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