BASF Completes Solenis Merger Creating a United Front of Power and Cutting-Edge Technology

Solenis and BASF have completed the much-awaited merger of the wet-end paper and water chemicals business, BASF, and the water-chemicals company, Solenis. The combined company has a pro forma sales of around $3 billion USD. The new combined company will carry out the operations under the Solenis brand.

It will provide chemical products and cost-effective solutions under the Solenis brand name to customers across the world in the paper, pulp, chemical processing, mining, oil and gas, biorefining, power, mining, municipal and several other industrial markets.

After the merger, BASF will own 49% of the shares of the combined company and Solenis. Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) and Clayton will manage 51% of the combined company funds post the merger. The new Solenis-owned combined company has around 5,200 employees with production, sales, and services extended across the globe. The merger encompasses the paper and water assets of BASF Performance Chemicals Unit across production sites in Suffolk, Virginia, USA; Ankleshwar, India; Bradford and Grimsby, UK; Altamira, Mexico; Kwinana, Australia, and other related assets (inclusive of intellectual property). However, BASF’s paper coating chemical business does not feature in the merger.

Currently, Solenis is one of the leading producers of speciality chemicals needed by water-intensive industries including paper, pulp, oil and gas, mining, chemical processing, power, and municipal corporations. The product portfolio of Solenis currently includes multiple processes and water treatment chemistries. They also include state-of-the-art monitoring and control systems. These technologies aid customers globally in fine-tuning the operational efficiencies and improving product quality to reduce the impact on the environment. With headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, Solenis currently has 41 manufacturing units across the world with employees from 120 countries.

According to John Panichella, the President and CEO of Solenis, ‘Combining the rich heritage of each company has enabled us to create a customer-focused global solution for the water and paper industries across the five continents. Consumers from all related industries are set to benefit from the merger than unifies our strengths. We expect the merger to create an unparalleled and complementary range of a wide array of products and services, knowledge and state-of-the-art innovations’.

Anup Kothari, the President of BASF’s Performance Chemicals Division, added, ‘Joining hands with Solenis will enable BASF’s Paper and Water Chemicals to foster sustainable growth. Together the new merger company will produce the customers across the global market with the widest variety of products of the finest quality. We strive to meet the speciality chemical needs of the global water and paper industry’.

BASF is a company that creates diverse and rich chemistry for fostering a sustainable future. A balance of economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility makes BASF one of the most successful chemical companies in the world. It had over 115,000 employees before the merger. The portfolio is organized across 4 distinct segments – performance products, functional materials and solutions, chemicals and agricultural solutions.

According to David Scheible, the Chairman of Solenis and Operating Advisor to CD&R, “Bringing the two robust and successful companies together has resulted in the genesis of an even stronger global business that can facilitate the growth of the new combined entity”.

Bringing Solenis and BASF’s paper and water chemicals business allows the businesses to harness over 100 years’ of combined experience in the water treatment and process enhancement fields. It creates a powerful combination of practical innovation and world-class technology.

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