Arch Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE: ARJ) announced that it has completed its
previously announced asset acquisition of the water treatment chemicals
business of Advantis Technologies, Inc. ("Advantis”).
Advantis, a subsidiary of Rockwood Holdings Inc., is a North American
manufacturer and marketer of branded swimming pool, spa and surface
water treatment chemicals with 2007 sales and EBITDA of $71 million and
$12 million, respectively. The transaction includes Advantis’
manufacturing center and headquarters located in Alpharetta, GA, and
leased warehouses and sales offices in Georgia, California and Wisconsin.
The cash purchase price was approximately $124 million, free of debt,
based upon an estimate of working capital at closing. This purchase
price is subject to a post-closing adjustment based upon final working
capital. The acquisition is being financed by borrowings from the Company’s
revolving credit facility and is expected to be cash and earnings
accretive in the first year. The Company expects to realize pretax
synergies of approximately $6 million per year from the integration and
leveraging of these businesses into Arch.
Louis S. Massimo, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer,
commented: "We are thrilled that the Advantis
businesses and its talented employees are now part of Arch, and we look
forward to realizing the potential of this winning combination. Our
transition teams are working to integrate the two organizations, and we
expect to rapidly capitalize on the many growth opportunities we have
identified.”
About Arch
Headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (USA), Arch Chemicals, Inc. is a
global Biocides company with annual sales of approximately $1.5 billion.
Arch and its subsidiaries provide innovative, chemistry-based solutions
to control the growth of harmful microbes. The Company’s
concentration is in water, hair and skin care products, treated wood,
paints and coatings, building products and health and hygiene
applications. Arch Chemicals operates in two segments: Treatment
Products and Performance Products. Together with its subsidiaries, Arch
has approximately 3,000 employees and manufacturing and customer-support
facilities in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and
Africa. For more information, visit the Company’s
Web site at http://www.archchemicals.com.
Except for historical information contained herein, the information
set forth in this communication contains forward-looking statements that
are based on management's beliefs, certain assumptions made by
management and management's current expectations, outlook, estimates and
projections about the markets and economy in which the Company and its
various businesses operate. Words such as "anticipates," "believes,"
"estimates," "expects," "forecasts," "intends,”
"opines," "plans," "predicts," "projects," "should," "targets" and
variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to
identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are not
guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks,
uncertainties and assumptions ("Future Factors"), which are difficult to
predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially
from what is expected or forecasted in such forward-looking statements.
The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of future events, new
information or otherwise. Future Factors which could cause actual
results to differ materially from those discussed include but are not
limited to: general economic and business and market conditions; lack of
growth in U.S. and European economies; increases in interest rates;
economic conditions in Asia; changes in foreign currencies against the
U.S. dollar; customer acceptance of new products; efficacy of new
technology; changes in U.S. or foreign laws and regulations; increased
competitive and/or customer pressure; the Company's ability to maintain
chemical price increases; higher-than-expected raw material and energy
costs and availability for certain chemical product lines; a change in
the antidumping duties on certain products; price increases due to
changes in Chinese taxes related to exports from China; increased
foreign competition in the calcium hypochlorite markets; inability to
obtain transportation for our chemicals; unfavorable court decisions,
including unfavorable decisions in appeals of antidumping rulings,
arbitration or jury decisions or tax matters; the supply/demand balance
for the Company's products, including the impact of excess industry
capacity; failure to achieve targeted cost-reduction programs; capital
expenditures in excess of those scheduled, such as the China plant;
environmental costs in excess of those projected; the occurrence of
unexpected manufacturing interruptions/outages at customer or Company
plants; a decision by the Company not to start up the hydrates
manufacturing facility; unfavorable weather conditions for swimming pool
use; inability to expand sales in the professional pool dealer market;
the impact of global weather changes; changes in the Company’s
stock price; and gains or losses on derivative instruments.
