Carve-Out Successfully Transformed into Global Leader in Specialty Petroleum Hydrocarbons
Sun Capital Partners, Inc. (“Sun Capital,”) a leading private investment firm specializing in leveraged buyouts and investments in market-leading companies, today announced that affiliated portfolio company Sonneborn, Inc. (“Sonneborn”), one of the world’s largest dedicated suppliers of white oils, petrolatums, waxes and other hydrocarbon specialty products, has been sold to One Equity Partners. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Sonneborn, based in Parsippany, NJ, was acquired from a large publicly-traded company in June 2005 in a corporate carve-out transaction. Upon acquisition, a series of initiatives were implemented to improve manufacturing productivity and cash management, streamline corporate infrastructure, optimize the product offering, and reduce costs by developing non-traditional raw material sources. A disciplined approach was taken to supply agreements and the termination of unfavorable supply agreements generated substantial savings, In 2010, Sonneborn completed the acquisition of the Sodium Sulfonate and Oxidized Petrolatum businesses of Chemtura Corporation, Inc., expanding Sonneborn’s product offering and generating manufacturing synergies; simultaneously, Sonneborn introduced new products to customers. As a result, sales have increased by more than 50% and EBITDA has increased by more than four times for the twelve months ended December 30, 2011 versus the twelve months prior to acquisition.
“The transformation of Sonneborn into a stand-alone, high-growth global business is the result of a series of strategic, operational efforts and a disciplined focus on identifying and relentlessly pursuing opportunities for operational improvement,” said Marc Leder, Co-CEO at Sun Capital Partners. “We have worked closely with the management team to achieve a significant improvement in Sonneborn’s performance since 2005, and are confident that the Company will continue to flourish under One Equity Partners’ guidance.”
Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP served as Sun Capital Partners’ legal counsel on the transaction, and Lazard Middle Market LLC provided financial advisory services.
About Sun Capital Partners, Inc.
Sun Capital Partners, Inc. is a leading private investment firm focused on leveraged buyouts, equity, debt, and other investments in companies that can benefit from its in–house operating professionals and experience. Sun Capital affiliates have invested in more than 295 companies worldwide with combined sales in excess of $45 billion since Sun Capital’s inception in 1995. Sun Capital has offices in Boca Raton, Los Angeles, and New York, as well as affiliates in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Shanghai and Shenzhen. For more information, please visit www.SunCapPart.com.
About Sonneborn
Sonneborn, Inc. is one of the world’s largest dedicated suppliers of white oils, petrolatums, waxes, and other hydrocarbon specialty products. Many of the largest personal care, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and food processing companies use Sonneborn’s products for personal care items such as creams and lotions, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical ointments, as well as for food processing, agricultural dust suppression, polymer processing, telecommunications wire and cable, and air conditioning, and refrigeration lubricants.
