Clayton Dubilier to Buy Stake in Univar, Valuing CVC Unit at $4.2 Billion
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice LLC agreed to buy a 42.5 percent stake in Univar, the biggest U.S. chemical distributor, from CVC Capital Partners in a transaction that values the company at $4.2 billion. Univar is withdrawing plans for an initial public offering.
CVC, a London-based private-equity firm, will retain a 42.5 percent stake in Redmond, Washington-based Univar, the companies said today in a statement. Univar’s managers and current investors will hold a 15 percent stake.
An IPO of Univar shares was planned by CVC, which received interest in the chemical distributor from private-equity investors, according to the statement. Clayton, a New York-based private-equity firm, was chosen as a partner because of its understanding of the sector, CVC said.
“Univar’s business profile fits our investment focus perfectly, and we look forward to working with CVC and the Univar management team to continue to build the business,” David H. Wasserman, a Clayton partner, said in the statement.
Returning Profits
Private-equity firms have been buying companies from each other in an effort to return profits to investors, who saw distributions last year fall to the lowest level since at least 2000, according to London-based research firm Preqin Ltd. Mergers and acquisitions of diversified chemicals companies totaled $4.1 billion this year through Sept. 1, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Univar, with annual sales of $7.2 billion, is the biggest chemical distributor in the U.S. and Canada. It operates 179 distribution facilities serving 80,000 customers in more than 100 countries.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP provided legal counsel to CVC and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP advised Clayton.
To contact the reporters on this story: Cristina Alesci in New York at calesci2@bloomberg.net; Jack Kaskey in New York at jkaskey@bloomberg.net.
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