Firmenich to acquire DRT from Ardian

Geneva, Switz­er­land — Firmenich announ­ced that it has ente­red into exclu­si­vity with Ardian, Tike­hau Capi­tal and family share­hol­ders to acquire Les Déri­vés Rési­ni­ques et Terpé­ni­ques (“DRT”). DRT is a world leader in plant-based chemis­try, mainly from pine trees, and is one of the leading suppli­ers globally of high quality, rene­wa­ble ingredients.

“I am thril­led to bring DRT’s unique capa­bi­li­ties for deve­lo­ping sustainable ingre­di­ents to Firmenich. This propo­sed combi­na­tion builds on our busi­ness part­ner­ship of more than 30 years and our estab­lished track record of successful co-deve­­lo­p­­ment in a long-stan­­ding joint venture,” said Patrick Firmenich, Chair­man of the Board, Firmenich. “We thank Ardian and Tike­hau Capi­tal for their strong steward­ship and we are deligh­ted to welcome all DRT colle­agues to Firmenich. We share the same passion for our custo­mers, sustaina­bi­lity, as well as strong family values.”

“Firmenich would be the ideal home for DRT,” said Thibault Basquin, Head of Ameri­cas Invest­ment and Mana­ging Direc­tor at Ardian Buyout. “I would like to warmly thank Laurent Laba­tut and his team for our part­ner­ship over the past few years. Ardian has enab­led DRT to acce­le­rate its growth, invest in new projects and enhance its sustaina­bi­lity approach. Firmenich has been an important stra­te­gic part­ner for DRT for many years and would be uniquely posi­tio­ned to bring DRT’s product deve­lo­p­ment capa­bi­li­ties to the next level. As a family-owned busi­ness that is commit­ted to inno­va­tion, Firmenich will provide a great envi­ron­ment for DRT’s colleagues.”

Emma­nuel Lail­lier, Head of Private Equity at Tike­hau Capi­tal added: “Tike­hau Capi­tal has supported DRT’s growth stra­tegy and global deve­lo­p­ment for six years. We are today very plea­sed to help bring DRT and Firmenich toge­ther, which is a key step for the conti­nua­tion of its development.”

“DRT would further streng­then our leading Perfu­mery & Ingre­di­ents busi­ness enab­ling us to offer our custo­mers the world’s best palette of rene­wa­ble and sustainable ingre­di­ents,” said Gilbert Ghos­tine, CEO, Firmenich. “DRT would bring new capa­bi­li­ties in health & nutri­tion, cosme­tics, as well as a number of new markets, inclu­ding adhe­si­ves, coatings and agri­cul­ture. This acqui­si­tion rein­forces our presence in France, which is our second largest market where we have been estab­lished for more than 120 years. I look forward to part­ne­ring with all our custo­mers to support their trans­for­ma­tion for a sustainable future.”

“We share a long-stan­­ding rela­ti­onship with Firmenich as it is one of our main part­ners,” explains Laurent Laba­tut, CEO of DRT. “Firmenich is renow­ned for its cutting-edge rese­arch that feeds into the broa­dest and finest ingre­di­ents palette. Our joint inno­va­tion capa­bi­li­ties would open up new oppor­tu­ni­ties to support our clients across our entire product port­fo­lio. Toge­ther we look forward to opening a new chap­ter with a shared ambi­tion to design best-in-class sustainable ingre­di­ents for our customers.”

DRT is at the fore­front of deve­lo­ping sustainable, rene­wa­ble and natu­­rally-deri­­ved ingre­di­ents from terpe­nes and rosin deri­va­ti­ves. DRT offers green alter­na­ti­ves for a range of appli­ca­ti­ons and markets. Foun­ded in 1932 and head­quar­te­red in Dax, France, DRT deve­lo­ped a unique, back­ward inte­gra­ted busi­ness model over many deca­des, inclu­ding access to sustainable raw mate­ri­als, best-in-class extra­c­tion and distil­la­tion capa­bi­li­ties and advan­ced inno­va­tion proces­ses. DRT has been a family-owned company for most of its history and has grown thanks to its commit­ment to long-stan­­ding rela­ti­onships with its suppli­ers and its customers.

DRT has a turno­ver in excess of €550 million, employs more than 1,500 people around the world and is opera­ting through a global foot­print with four produc­tion sites loca­ted in France, two in the USA, two in India and one in China.

Finan­cial terms of the deal have not been disc­lo­sed. The propo­sed tran­sac­tion remains subject to seve­ral condi­ti­ons inclu­ding the consul­ta­tion of the rele­vant employee repre­sen­ta­ti­ves and custo­mary appr­ovals by the anti­trust authorities.
Firmenich was advi­sed by Gold­man Sachs Inter­na­tio­nal, Raphaël Finan­cial Advi­sory and Bredin Prat. Ardian was advi­sed by Citigroup, Roth­schild & Co, Latham & Watkins and White & Case.

About Firmenich
Firmenich is the world’s largest priva­­tely-owned perfume and taste company, foun­ded in Geneva, Switz­er­land, in 1895. Driven by its purpose to create posi­tive emoti­ons to enhance well­be­ing, natu­rally, Firmenich has desi­gned many of the world’s best-known perfu­mes and tastes, brin­ging delight to over four billion consu­mers every day. Renow­ned for its world-class rese­arch and crea­ti­vity, as well as its leader­ship in sustaina­bi­lity, each year, Firmenich invests 10% of its turno­ver in R&D to under­stand and share the best that nature has to offer respon­si­bly. Firmenich had an annual turno­ver of 3.9 billion Swiss francs at the end of June 2019. More infor­ma­tion about Firmenich is available at www.firmenich.com.

About DRT
Foun­ded in 1932, DRT specia­li­zes in the deve­lo­p­ment of gum rosin and turpen­tine extra­c­ted from pine resin. DRT’s head office is loca­ted in Dax, France and sells its products around the world. DRT has a diver­si­fied product port­fo­lio of more than 300 ingre­di­ents addres­sing a variety of end markets. DRT opera­tes 9 manu­fac­tu­ring faci­li­ties either directly or with joint venture part­ners. More infor­ma­tion about DRT is available at www.drt.fr

About Ardian
Ardian is a world-leading private invest­ment house with assets of US$ 96bn mana­ged or advi­sed in Europe, the Ameri­cas and Asia. The company is majo­rity-owned by its employees. It keeps entre­pre­neur­ship at its heart and focu­ses on deli­ve­ring excel­lent invest­ment perfor­mance to its global inves­tor base. Through its commit­ment to shared outco­mes for all stake­hol­ders, Ardian’s acti­vi­ties fuel indi­vi­dual, corpo­rate and econo­mic growth around the world.

Holding close its core values of excel­lence, loyalty and entre­pre­neur­ship, Ardian main­ta­ins a truly global network, with more than 680 employees working from fifteen offices across Europe (Frank­furt, Jersey, London, Luxem­bourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), the Ameri­cas (New York, San Fran­cisco and Sant­iago) and Asia (Beijing, Singa­pore, Tokyo and Seoul). It mana­ges funds on behalf of around 1,000 clients through five pillars of invest­ment exper­tise: Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infra­struc­ture, Real Estate and Private Debt. More infor­ma­tion about Ardian is available at https://www.ardian.com/fr

About Tike­hau Capital
Tike­hau Capi­tal is an asset manage­ment and invest­ment group which mana­ges € 25.8bn of assets under manage­ment (as at 31 Decem­ber 2019) and share­hol­ders’ equity of € 3.1 billion (as at 30 June 2019). The Group invests in various asset clas­ses (private debt, real-estate, private equity, capi­tal markets stra­te­gies), inclu­ding through its asset manage­ment subsi­dia­ries, on behalf of insti­tu­tio­nal and private inves­tors. Control­led by its mana­gers, along­side leading insti­tu­tio­nal part­ners, Tike­hau Capi­tal employs more than 500 staff (as at 30 Septem­ber 2019) in its Paris, London, Amster­dam, Brussels, Luxem­bourg, Madrid, Milan, New York, Seoul, Singa­pore and Tokyo offices.