CHR Hansen / Colorcon

Having successfully assisted Chr. Hansen in divesting its Specialty Sweeteners Division, Grace Matthews was engaged again to market the Company’s Excipients and Coatings Division based in Stoughton, Wisconsin. The Division made sugar sphere coatings and other inactive ingredients used in the manufacture of tablets and capsules by the pharmaceutical industry.

Though Chr. Hansen had invested heavily in the Division’s FDA compliant manufacturing facility, the business had never achieved the desired sales volumes and had few synergies with Chr. Hansen’s other food ingredient businesses.  Though the business operated below capacity and was unprofitable, Chr. Hansen’s management decided to divest it provided it could attain a reasonable value. 

Grace Matthews marketed the business to selected strategic buyers in the food ingredient and specialty chemical industries, as well as to appropriate private equity groups that had an interest in the pharmaceutical and fine chemicals markets.   

Grace Matthews tailored the process to focus potential buyers on the Division’s strengths: its new, state-of-the-art manufacturing plant, expertise and market strength in time-release coatings, and range of tangible growth opportunities. 

The business was sold to Colorcon, a developer and supplier of formulated products for the pharmaceutical industry, at a value well above the seller’s expectations. 

The acquisition expanded Colorcon’s distribution, technical service, and sales infrastructure, and provided it with several unique products to add to its global product portfolio.  The acquisition also enhanced Colorcon’s manufacturing capabilities at a critical time, as it had recently reached an agreement with Dow Chemical to take on responsibility for the development and distribution of Dow Pharmaceutical’s oral, controlled-release products, an area where the Division had special expertise.