Partner

American Securities Acquires Prince from Palladium Equity Partners

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The parent company of Prince International Corporation and Prince Erachem International Corporation (“Prince” or the “Company”), a leading manufacturer of mineral-based specialty additives, and American Securities LLC (“American Securities”), a leading private equity firm, announced today that Prince has been acquired by affiliates of American Securities. Since 2003, Prince has been majority owned by affiliates of Palladium Equity Partners, LLC (“Palladium”).


Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Prince serves a diverse range of consumer and industrial end markets by

developing, manufacturing and marketing performance-critical additives. Many of the Company’s products

are custom developed for specific customer applications in a variety of industries, including construction,

electronics, consumer products, agriculture, battery, automotive, oil & gas, and heavy equipment.


Under Palladium’s ownership, Prince has grown from a small, regional processor of minerals to become one

of the largest global manufacturers of specialty mineral additives and inorganic chemicals. The Company is a proven consolidator, having closed 19 add-on acquisitions since 2003, and has built a multinational manufacturing presence with locations across six continents.

“Prince has grown into a preeminent specialty inorganic chemical manufacturing business across targeted

industries based on customer support, technical expertise, and continual improvement of our facilities and

capabilities,” noted Willson Ropp, Chairman and President of Prince. “Our ability to develop and manufacture niche industrial additives and chemicals is valued by our more than 2,000 customers  worldwide. Palladium has served as an outstanding partner over the past 14 years, working with us step-by-step and facilitating the creation of our scaled, global platform. We look forward to working with American Securities, leveraging their significant industry expertise and investment experience to accelerate our business plan and growth.”

“We are pleased to partner with Willson and the rest of the Prince leadership team to continue to capture

attractive growth opportunities,” commented Scott Wolff, a Managing Director of American Securities. “The

Company’s highly-engineered products, valuable customer relationships, experienced leadership team, and

engaged employee base make Prince a strong fit for our investment strategy.”


“We are very proud of the results that have been achieved at Prince,” said Adam Shebitz, Managing Director of Palladium. “Willson Ropp and Executive Vice President Anthony Weiss have been outstanding partners throughout our ownership period, and have grown the business into a truly world-class enterprise that we believe is well positioned for its next chapter of growth.”

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP served as legal counsel to Prince, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP

served as legal counsel to American Securities with respect to the transaction. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

acted as exclusive financial advisor to the Company with respect to the transaction.

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