French private equity group PAI Europe has transferred Swedish specialty chemicals company Perstorp from its IV fund to a new fund managed by PAI Partners with US-based Landmark Partners as lead investor along with other co-investors. Financial terms were not revealed.

In addition to the transfer, Landmark Partners and its co-investors have committed to invest around €130 million in Perstorp to fund its future growth.

Jan Secher, Perstorp’s president and CEO, commented: “We are delighted that our focus on commercial and operational excellence has delivered strong results, attracting new quality investors. We have progressively enhanced profitability and deleveraging, resulting in the recent upgrade by S&P, and we are now ready to take the next step. We look forward to capturing future growth opportunities to advance our position as a global leader in specialty chemicals.”

S&P upgraded  its credit rating  for Perstorp in July to reflect the company’s sustained  EBITDA growth and deleveraging, citing the strong rise in volumes seen in the Swedish group’s main business lines over the past several quarters. Magnus Heimburg, Perstorp’s chief financial officer, said the upgrade should further increase its financial flexibility and potentially lower its future cost of capital.

Perstorp employs 1,500 people across production plants in Europe, North America and Asia. In 2017, it posted a record EBITDA of 2.1 billion krona on sales of 13.6 billion krona.