Arkema to buy US surfactants maker

France’s Arkema has agreed to acquire ArrMaz, a US manufacturer of speciality surfactants for crop nutrition, mining and infrastructure applications. This is due to be completed in the summer, subject to regulatory approvals.

Arkema described ArrMaz as  described this as “profitable, resilient and low capital-intensive business” and the deal as “another milestone in its journey of growth in specialties”, which it aims at comprising 80% of its sales by 2023. The purchase price was said to be based on an enterprise value of $570 million, which corresponds to a 10.8 x EBITDA multiple.

ArrMaz will be integrated into the Performance Additives business within the High Performance Materials division of Arkema. It has nine sites in North and South America, Asia and in the Middle East and Africa, where it recently opened new facilities, employing about 400 people in total.

Arkema added that their shared formulation expertise and market positions have made them “highly complementary in terms of geography, as well as commercial and technological capabilities”. In particular, ArrMaz’s additives to enhance fertiliser production, grade recovery and process performance in mining operations, and repair roads are all in sync with emerging sustainability needs.

As well as a good organic growth profile for ArrMaz, Arkema has identified about $15 million in synergies, mostly related to purchasing and commercial complementarities. This is expected to make the deal accretive to earnings from the first year of integration and contribute to improving EBITDA over the course of four years.