Acquisition · Chemicals
Mitsubishi Chemical buys specialty silicon chemicals maker Gelest
- Buyer
- Mitsubishi Chemical (via Mitsubishi Chemical America) (Tokyo)
- Target
- Gelest, Morrisville, Pennsylvania
- Value
- Status
- Completed in 2020. Gelest became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical America.
- Date
- 2020-04-30
Mitsubishi Chemical's US unit agreed to buy all of Gelest Intermediate Holdings, the parent of Gelest, from private equity firm New Mountain Capital, which had owned it since 2017. Gelest makes silicones, silanes and metal-organic compounds used in semiconductors, medical devices, cosmetics and coatings, and has about 240 employees. The price was not disclosed.
Why it matters
It added high-margin specialty materials, including chemicals for chipmaking, to a Japanese group trying to move away from commodity chemicals.
About Gelest
Gelest was founded in 1991 and is based in Morrisville, Pennsylvania. It was led by chief executive Ken Gayer and by Barry Arkles, its chairman and chief technology officer. It helps customers develop and supply the chemistry behind new products in medical devices, life sciences, microelectronics and personal care.
What Mitsubishi Chemical wanted
Mitsubishi Chemical America president Steve Yurich said Gelest's research and production strength fit the group's long-term plan, and that its customer network could speed new products for digital infrastructure, vision care and other life sciences uses. Mitsubishi Chemical had been formed in 2017 by merging three group companies and was Japan's largest chemical maker.
Sources
Kakehashi M&A News home
