By David Savastano
Editor

The ink industry has seen much merger and acquisition activity in recent years, and the same is true of its suppliers. M&A activity appears to be picking up, as can be seen  in a trio of announcements in the past few days, beginning with the news that Dominion Colour’s management team has acquired the company from its parent, Kikuchi Color & Chemicals Corporation.

Mike Klein, Jack Nelligan, Bob Ralph and Mark Vincent, who will all continue as senior executives of DCC in their current positions, are the new owners of DCC.

The change in ownership will have no adverse impact on the path forward for DCC and its subsidiaries. All DCC operating divisions and subsidiaries will remain intact and there will be no changes in the organization as a result of the change in control of DCC.
   
The second acquisition came when IMin Partners announced the purchase of the kaolin business of Huber Engineered Materials, and renamed the company,KaMin LLC.  The company, which supplies high-quality kaolin products to paper and industrial customers worldwide, will be headquartered in Macon, GA. IMin Partners, headquartered in Fort Worth, TX, is a private equity capital fund dedicated to investing in specialty minerals and chemical businesses.

“We are excited about the purchase of KaMin LLC and the opportunities and challenges facing the kaolin industry,” said Tom Chambers, partner and co-founder of IMin Partners.  “The high quality products and outstanding service Huber’s kaolin customers have come to expect will continue unchanged at KaMin LLC.”

The new name for the company was selected from more than 200 submissions by Huber’s kaolin employees, and reflects the new company’s commitment to its kaolin customers and its strong support from IMin Partners.

In the most recent news, Emerald Hilton Davis, LLC, a subsidiary of Emerald Performance Materials, LLC has acquired the carbon black dispersions business and assets of Wolstenholme International Ltd. Emerald is an affiliated portfolio company of Sun Capital Partners, Inc., a leading private investment firm specializing in leveraged buyouts and investments in market-leading companies. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

 “The acquisition of Wolstenholme’s carbon black dispersions business helps us accomplish three important strategic goals,” said James Donnelly, business director, Emerald Hilton Davis LLC. “It broadens our water-based product offering, adds resin-based black dispersions that we do not offer currently, and provides established customer relationships in our target markets. The fit is excellent and we are very enthusiastic about this acquisition.”

Andrew Rink, group managing director of Wolstenholme, added, “The combination of Wolstenholme’s carbon black dispersions business with Emerald’s Hilton Davis unit provides a range of operating and growth opportunities for both businesses whilst enabling Rutland Partners LLP to realize a further part from its investment in the wider Wolstenholme group.”