Ashland Global Holdings has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the personal care business from Schülke & Mayr GmbH, a portfolio company of the global investment organization EQT.
WHO: Founded in 1889 in Hamburg, Schülke & Mayr GmbH’s mission is to protect lives worldwide by providing critical hygiene solutions that effectively combat risks for humans and materials from infection and contamination. Today, Schülke offers a diversified product portfolio, including disinfection products for hand, skin, and surface as well as wound antisepsis products.
Ashland Global Holdings is a global specialty materials company serving customers in a wide range of consumer and industrial markets, including adhesives, architectural coatings, automotive, construction, energy, food and beverage, nutraceuticals, personal care, and pharmaceutical.
EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organization with more than €75 billion in raised capital and currently more than €46 billion in assets under management across 16 active funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and North America with total sales of more than €27 billion.
WHY: The acquisition is consistent with Ashland’s strategic positioning as a premier specialty additives supplier and strengthens the company’s consumer business portfolio. The move also advances Ashland’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) agenda for personal care and household applications.
The divestment is an important milestone in EQT Private Equity’s strategic repositioning of Schülke to become a pure-play healthcare company and expanding its leading position in infection prevention.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: “This is an excellent example of the type of bolt-on acquisition opportunities that will help advance our strategy and support the profitable growth of our core businesses,” said Guillermo Novo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ashland. “I am excited about having the Schülke & Mayr personal care employees join Ashland to help us broaden our breadth of specialty additives solutions and expand our biotechnology and microbiology technical capabilities.”
“As we continue our transformation, we’re focused on innovations and differentiated offerings that will deliver value to our customers. This acquisition further aligns our portfolio with the ‘clean beauty’ trend in the personal care industry and helps us solve for a new generation of consumers who are shifting to products with milder and safer ingredients. Our combined biotechnology competencies further strengthen our ability to create new sustainable solutions in broader fields of application,” Novo concluded.
Matthias Wittkowski, Partner and Investment Advisor to EQT Private Equity, commented: “We are excited to have found a good long-term home for the Personal Care Business, its employees, and customers. I am confident that the Personal Care Business will flourish and continue to grow as part of Ashland, which has longstanding knowledge and expertise in the personal care field. At the same time, it marks a very important moment for schülke, as it completes the strategic repositioning and enables the Company to fully focus on the healthcare industry. We are fully committed to providing the necessary resources and capital to support schülke in its continued growth and to [fulfill] its mission to protect lives worldwide.”
Christian Last, Chief Executive Officer, Schülke, concluded: “schülke is a pioneer and leader in the field of infection prevention and hygiene solutions for over 130 years. 2020 was an extremely important year for schülke as a critical company in the immense fight against the pandemic. It clearly demonstrated one thing: Our strength lies in serving our customers in the healthcare business segments. Our mission to protect lives worldwide will now become true in everything we do.”
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