Platform Makes Second Purchase In Agchems

Chemical industry newcomer Platform Specialty Products has agreed to acquire Agriphar, a Belgian agrochemicals firm, for $400 million. The deal follows Platform’s April agreement to purchase Chemtura’s AgroSolutions business for $1 billion. Agriphar generated sales in 2013 of $170 million, mostly from pesticides. AgroSolutions’ sales last year were $449 million, mostly from pesticides and seed treatments. Platform expects to close both deals during the fourth quarter. The Agriphar deal is “an attractive bolt-on” to the AgroSolutions acquisition, says Martin E. Franklin, Platform’s founder and chairman. Platform’s first deal was last year’s $1.8 billion purchase of specialty chemical formulator MacDermid.