AXA Private Equity acquires majority shareholding in Eliokem

28 September 2006

French company Eliokem has been bought by its management team and AXA Private Equity. Eliokem’s management team headed by its chief executive officer, Jacques Collonge, and AXA Private Equity have signed a share purchase agreement with the American private equity firm, Littlejohn & Co. LLC, to acquire Eliokem through a leveraged buy-out transaction for approximately €130 million.

Eliokem is a speciality 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 (Ohio, USA) and Ningbo (China). It also has six representative offices in Europe, Asia and The Americas, and a network of 75 distributors and agents around the world. In 2005, the company achieved a turnover of €148 million, up 7% compared to 2004. Eliokem expects a similar growth in 2006.
The Eliokem management team remains unchanged.

Eliokem’s brands and products include Chemigumâ, Sunigumâ elastomer modifiers and Wingstayâ antioxidants. Littlejohn acquired Eliokem in December 2001 as a result of the spin-off of the speciality chemical business of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.