Silverfleet announces sale of Prefere Resins

The pan-European private equity firm Silverfleet Capital has entered into a binding agreement to sell Prefere Resins (“Prefere” or the “Company”), a leader in phenolic and melamine resins, to an affiliate of One Rock Capital Partners, LLC (“One Rock”). Completion of the transaction is subject to customary anti-trust and FDI approvals and is expected to occur in the second or third quarter of 2022. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Erkner, Germany, Prefere is a leading European manufacturer of phenolic, specialty urea and, melamine resins as well as high quality derivatives of methanol-(C1)-chemistry. The Company employs over 600 people largely based in Europe and North America where it operates a number of high-quality manufacturing and R&D facilities. The Company serves high-growth sub-sectors within construction, insulation, coatings, and various industrial niches which are expected to continue to benefit from positive market trends.

Silverfleet invested in Prefere Resins in 2018 having identified the potential to help the Company expand further, both organically and through acquisition. Since then, Prefere has developed well; investing in new capacity, growing its product suite and expanding globally through the acquisition of the Melamines & Paraform business from INEOS Enterprises.

Prefere has achieved continuous, profitable growth under Silverfleet’s ownership and has demonstrated strong resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Company has made great strides to address the carbon zero agenda, has an excellent pipeline of new and exciting environmentally attractive products as well as excellent ESG credentials.

Benjamin Hubner, Partner at Silverfleet, comments: “Prefere Resins is a high-quality business with a very strong management, and we wish Elmar and his team every success for their next chapter of growth. The Company’s strong resilience, paired with a track record of continuously delivering on its plans, have made the implementation of our strategic value creation plan a rewarding experience over the past four years.”

Adrian Yurkwich, Partner at Silverfleet, says: “We are very proud of what the Prefere team has achieved since we invested in the Business in 2018. Today, the Company has established itself as an innovation leader with an environmentally friendly product portfolio that is ideally positioned for future growth. This is an excellent example of a Silverfleet investment where we backed a market leading business to help deliver the next phase of its international growth, organically and via acquisition.”

Elmar Boeke, Chief Executive of Prefere says: “With the support of Silverfleet we were able to execute an ambitious growth strategy that included investments into our product portfolio, our operations as well as M&A. We would like to thank Silverfleet for the successful collaboration and are delighted to welcome One Rock on board as our new partner. The Business is in excellent shape and has ambitious plans for the coming years.”

The Silverfleet team who worked on the transaction included Adrian Yurkwich, Partner, and Benjamin Hubner, Partner, based in Silverfleet’s London and Munich offices. Silverfleet was advised by Houlihan Lokey (M&A), Advancy (Commercial), EY (Financial & Tax), Sidley Austin and BMH Braeutigam & Partner (Corporate Legal), ERM (Environmental) and Shearman & Sterling (Banking Legal).