MOSCOW (MRC) -- New Mountain Capital, LLC, announced that the sale of Gelest, Inc. to Mitsubishi Chemical America, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, has closed following the clearing of all regulatory approvals, said Chemweek.
Gelest is a global leader in silicones, organosilanes, metal-organics, and specialty monomers for high-growth materials-science intensive applications including medical devices, life sciences, microelectronics and personal care. In March 2017, NMC made a majority investment in Gelest and worked closely with Gelest management to scale the company through organic initiatives and M&A. Under New Mountain’s ownership, Gelest more than doubled its enterprise value by augmenting its leadership team and building its capabilities in the life sciences, medical device, and microelectronics end markets, both organically and through the strategic acquisition of Bimax Chemicals in 2019.
"Since partnering with Gelest in 2017, we have been extremely impressed by the management team and Gelest’s ability to innovate continuously to serve the evolving needs of its demanding customers,” said Andre Moura, Managing Director at NMC and lead director of Gelest. “We are proud to have supported Gelest’s execution of an organic and inorganic growth strategy, and we thank everyone at Gelest for an exceptional partnership."
"We are extremely proud of the efforts of everyone who has contributed to make Gelest the company that it is today, with world-class technology and supply capabilities, made possible by the industry leading team we have built and support from NMC for our strategic investment programs. This has made Gelest an extremely valuable partner to customers around the world," said Dr. Barry Arkles, Chair and founder of Gelest.
"New Mountain Capital has been a terrific partner and helped us to significantly grow the company over the past three years. We now look forward to joining MCC where their capabilities and breadth will allow Gelest to create even more value for customers and opportunities for employees," said Ken Gayer, CEO of Gelest.
Gelest will continue to execute its strategy of helping customers succeed by assisting them to develop and supply chemicals technology to solve their most challenging materials science problems and enable their new product roadmap.
As MRC informed earlier, Mitsubishi Chemical, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation, halted methyl methacrylate (MMA) production in Otake, Japan in mid-September for scheduled repairs. This production with a capacity of 110,000/tonne of MMA per year will be closed until mid-November.
The main application, consuming approximately 75% MMA, is in the production of polymethyl methacrylate acrylic plastics (PMMA). Methyl methacrylate is also used to produce methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer (MBS) used as a modifier for polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, September total production of unmixed PVC grew to 86,000 tonnes from 75,500 tonnes a month earlier, SayanskKhimPlast and RusVinyl increased their capacity utilisation. Overall output of polymer were 718,500 tonnes in the first nine months of 2020 versus 720,500 tonnes a year earlier, only two producers raised their production volumes, and RusVinyl cut its output.
Mitsubishi Chemical, a Japanese integrated chemical company, was established on October 1, 1990 through the merger of Mitsubishi Kasei and Mitsubishi Petrochemical Co. Due to its wide range of activities, it is one of the ten leading chemical companies in the world.
MRC