Platform Specialty Products launches as Element Solutions

As Platform Specialty Products completes its $4.2 billion sale of Arysta LifeScience to India’s UPL Corporation, it is changing its name to Element Solutions. Based in West Palm Beach, Florida, Element will manufacture specialty chemicals targeting electronics, graphic arts, metals, plastic plating, and other high-technology markets. The deal with UPL is expected to create the fifth-largest agricultural chemicals maker in the world. Platform purchased Arysta in 2014 from Permira, a private equity firm, for $3.5 billion. Platform also announced several top management changes, including the retirement of CEO Rakesh Sachdev, who will be replaced by Benjamin Gliklich.