NEW YORK—In a deal that will create a major plastic additives player, private equity firm SK Capital Partners is buying SI Group and combining it with its own Addivant business.
New York-based SK announced the deal June 1. No purchase price was disclosed in the deal, which is expected to close in the second half of 2018.
SI is a 112-year-old firm based in Schenectady, N.Y. Its product lines include plasticizers, flame retardants and antioxidants. SI has more than $1 billion in annual sales, employing more than 2,800 at 20 locations worldwide.
"SI Group has an excellent fit with the technologies and end markets of several SK Capital businesses, including Addivant in additives," Barry Siadat, SK co-founder and managing partner, said in a news release. "These technology and market connections will enhance and accelerate the continued growth and transformation of SI Group."
He added that by combining the complementary strengths of SI Group and Addivant, SK "will be creating a global technology and industry leader in plastic, lubricant, oilfield and rubber additives."
Joining SK "will enhance [SI's] performance additives and intermediates business in the plastic, oil and gas, pharmaceutical and rubber sectors, SI Chairman Wallace Graham said in the release. "We expect to see great things in the years ahead."
SK is buying SI from the family of W. Howard Wright, a former General Electric chemist who founded the firm in 1906. Wright, who worked with Thomas Edison while at GE, set up Schenectady Varnish Co. to supply that material to GE plants in the area.
SK formed Danbury, Conn.-based Addivant in 2013 after acquiring the antioxidant and light-stabilizer business of Chemtura Corp. for almost $200 million in late 2012. Addivant had estimated annual sales of more than $500 million and employs more than 500 at 11 global plants.
Addivant most recently expanded in mid-2017 when it more than tripled production capacity for liquid phosphite antioxidants at a plant in Morgantown, W. Va.