Penn Specialty Chemicals, Inc.

Client Profile
Founded in 1999, Penn Specialty Chemicals, Inc. (‘Penn’ or the ‘Company’) is one of the world’s leading producers and marketers of furfural and furan-based fine chemicals and solvents. The Company holds a distinctive portfolio of value added, high growth products that serve a broad range of industry end uses in the pharmaceutical, agricultural, chemical, and industrial markets. Penn’s portfolio is based on feedstock from renewable resources and includes products with environmentally friendly properties.
Situation
The Company suffered liquidity constraints after it refinanced and restructured its balance sheet at the end of 2007, due to the rising costs of raw materials, particularly furfural, and difficulty passing those costs on to customers. Penn also continued to have production problems in its operations in China where Penn maintained two production facilities.
Solution
Penn and SSG moved quickly to explore strategic alternatives, including a sale or refinancing of the Company. After conducting a broad sale process and negotiating with several strategic and financial partners, SSG and Penn concluded that the greatest value for Penn’s stakeholders would be achieved by a sale of its assets to a newly formed affiliate of Minakem SAS which operates specialty chemical facilities in France and Germany. The sale transaction closed in July.