US private equity group Bain Capital has agreed to buy Italmatch Chemicals from French investment house Ardian for an undisclosed sum.

Headquartered in Genoa, Italy, Italmatch manufactures specialty chemical additives and operates four business units: Water & Oil Treatment; Lubricants, Flame Retardants & Plastic Additives; and Performance Products & Personal Care.

Under Ardian’s four-year ownership, the Italian group has more than doubled its sales, both organically and through multiple acquisitions. The acquisitions included Afton Chemical’s metalworking fluid business, Jiayou Chemical, Detrex, Sudamfos do Brasil, Magpie Polymers, Compass Chemical International, Solvay’s desalination and phosphonates and phosphonic acid-based water additives business, and GRS Chemical Technologies.

Bain Capital’s managing director, Ivano Sessa, said it looked forward to supporting Italmatch’s management to continue growing the company, both organically and through an “ambitious plan of strategic acquisitions”.

Italmatch employs 780 staff at sites around the world and posted sales of around €400 million in 2017. The company operates seven plants in Europe (Italy, Spain, Germany and the UK), five in Asia (China, Japan and India), and five in the US. It also has sales and distribution subsidiaries in Brazil, Belgium, China, Japan, India, Poland, Singapore and USA.