AXA Private Equity, in association with Eliokem’s management team headed by its CEO, Jacques Collonges, signed a share purchase agreement with the American private equity firm, Littlejohn and Company, LLC to acquire Eliokem, the specialty chemical group, through a leveraged buy-out transaction for approximately €130 million.
Eliokem is a specialty chemical group with headquarters in Villejust near Paris, France. The group employs more than 460 people around the world and owns three production facilities located at Le Havre, France, Akron, OH and Ningbo, China, as well as six representative offices in Europe, Asia and the Americas, and a network of 75 distributors and agents located around the world. In 2005, the company achieved a turnover of €148 million, up seven percent compared to 2004. Eliokem expects similar growth in 2006.
The Eliokem management team remains unchanged with Jacques Collonge as president and CEO; Philippe Carabin, CFO; Rick Sandford, commercial director; Olivier Faussadier, manufacturing and technology director and Anne Chaumeret, human resource director.
Littlejohn acquired Eliokem in December 2001 as a result of the spin-off of the specialty chemical business of The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company.