Major coating resin firms change hands

Making resins for industrial coatings is a generally sleepy business, but two large acquisitions are livening the field up.

PTT Global Chemical has agreed to purchase the industrial coating resin producer Allnex from the private equity firm Advent International for $4.8 billion. And the private equity firm Lone Star Funds will buy the resin producer AOC from fellow private equity firm CVC Capital Partners and minority owner DSM.

Based in Frankfurt, Germany, Allnex has annual sales of about $2.4 billion, as well as 4,000 employees, 33 manufacturing sites, and 23 research and technology facilities. It makes a range of industrial coating polymers and additives, including powder resins, waterborne resins, energy-curable resins, cross-linking resins, and additives for use on substrates such as wood, metal, and plastic.

PTT, a Thailand-based petrochemical maker, says it will invest in Allnex to develop novel resins, including those based on sustainable technologies. Under its new owners, Allnex is also looking to expand its presence in Asia-Pacific countries, CEO Miguel Mantas says in a press release.

Allnex was created in 2013, when Cytec Industries sold its coating resin business to Advent for almost $1.2 billion. Allnex subsequently grew through acquisitions, such as its 2016 purchase of the New Zealand–based coating resin producer Nuplex for about $790 million.

Meanwhile, Lone Star has agreed to buy AOC, a producer of specialty resins and composites headquartered in Schiphol, the Netherlands. Unconfirmed media reports suggest that Lone Star will pay almost $2 billion for the company. Under CVC’s ownership, AOC “realized significant growth, evolving from a strong regional player to a global composites leader,” CVC states in a press release.

Lone Star will add AOC to a portfolio of specialty chemical and manufacturing companies that includes BASF’s former construction chemical business, which Lone Star acquired in September 2020 for $3.7 billion.

DSM stands to gain about $350 million in cash from the sale of its minority share in AOC. DSM’s ownership stake in AOC dates back to 2015 when DSM and CVC created a resin and polymer intermediates joint venture.