Gleiss Lutz has advised Kemira Oyj on the sale of its 39% interest in Sachtleben GmbH to co-shareholder Rockwood Holdings Inc. for EUR 97.5 million. The transaction is scheduled to close in February 2013.
Kemira and Rockwood had combined their titanium dioxide pigment businesses in 2008 to form a joint venture under the name of “Sachtleben”. Sachtleben is one of the leading producers of specialist titanium dioxide pigments, which are used in synthetic fibres, packaging inks, cosmetics as well as in the pharmaceutical and food industries.
Based in Helsinki, Kemira is a global water chemistry company. With approx. 5,000 employees, it generated revenues of 2.2 billion euros in 2011. Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, Rockwood is a world-class specialty chemicals and advanced materials company. With a global workforce of approx. 9,700, Rockwood generates annual revenues of approx. 2.85 billion euros.
Gleiss Lutz’s team consisted of Dr. Jan Bauer (partner, corporate/M&A, Frankfurt, lead) Dr. Ulrich Denzel (antitrust, Stuttgart), Jan Philipp Mohr, Dr. Marco Niehaus (both corporate/M&A, Frankfurt).
Gleiss Lutz has already advised Kemira on deals in the past, for example in 2006 on its purchase of Lanxess’ paper chemicals business and in 2008 on establishing the titanium dioxide joint venture with Rockwood. Most recently, Gleiss Lutz advised Kemira in connection with a major group restructuring.
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