BDA advises Sun Chemical on the divestment of Coates Toners by way of MBO

The management of Coates Toners, a leading global manufacturer of color and monochrome aftermarket / OEM toners, has acquired the principal assets of the business from parent company Sun Chemical. The MBO team comprises Larry Berti, Paul Clothier, and Jim Collins. The transaction closed December 30, 2008.

Paul Clothier, CEO of Coates Toners, commented on the transaction “As a management team, we are pleased to be able to continue offering market leading products to our customers, and excited to refocus our business on growth as an independent company.”

Larry Berti, CMO of Coates Toners, said “Our customers, staff and other stakeholders are all reacting very positively to this next stage of the development of our business.”

Jim Collins, CFO of Coates Toners, said “We are happy to be able to move forward on a sound financial backing, with great partners, which will allow us to grow market share even in these turbulent market conditions.”

Rosenn, Jenkins & Greenwald represented the MBO team in this transaction. Business Development Asia LLC and Clifford Chance represented Sun Chemical.

Sun Chemical
Brad Schrader, VP Business Development and Head of M&A
(1) 973 404 6000

Coates Toners
Paul Clothier, CEO, Coates Toners
Larry Berti, CMO, Coates Toners
Jim Collins, CFO, Coates Toners
(1) 570 675 1131

Rosenn, Jenkins & Greenwald, LLP
Steven Roth
(1) 570 826 5678

BDA Transaction Team
Euan Rellie, Senior Managing Director erellie@bdallc.com
Sunil Chaddha, Assistant Director schaddha@bdallc.com
Hersh Mathur, Analyst hmathur@bdallc.com
(1) 212 265 5300

About Coates Toners

Coates Toners is a leading independent manufacturer of toners. The Coates Toners facility is situated in Dallas, Pennsylvania. It has “state of the art” production capability and has established the company as a leading independent supplier of toners. In December 1997 the Dallas facility achieved ISO9002. The continuous quality improvement systems now enshrined by the “Total Quality” philosophy are reflected in the company’s recognition of both the importance of quality to its customers and of minimizing the effect of its operations on the environment.

Coates Toners has been developing and manufacturing liquid, mono-component and two-component toners for 30 years. In this time the company has demonstrated its ability to develop and manufacture products that meet critical and exacting requirements. Coates Toners also has significant experience in the formulation of specialty products such as MICR toners. The development of new quality products for use with digital print-on-demand technologies, including mechanically produced color toner are exciting opportunities. The most recent innovation in color has been the introduction of toners produced by a chemical process (CPT), rather than the traditional mechanical pulverization method (MPT). The range now includes chemically produced toners (ChemiColour) for use in applications that require CPT for optimum performance.

About Sun Chemical

Sun Chemical, the world’s largest producer of printing inks and pigments, is a leading provider of materials for packaging, publication, coatings, plastics, cosmetics, and other industrial markets. With annual sales over US$4bn, Sun Chemical has over 11,000 employees supporting customers around the world. The Sun Chemical Group of companies includes such established names as Hartmann, Kohl & Madden, and US Ink. Sun Chemical Corporation in the US and Sun Chemical Limited in England are subsidiaries of Sun Chemical Group BV, the Netherlands. Sun Chemical has headquarters in Parsippany, New Jersey, USA; Slough, England; and Weesp, the Netherlands.

About Business Development Asia

Business Development Asia LLC was founded in 1996. BDA assists multinational corporate and financial sponsor clients to identify and execute cross-border acquisitions, divestments, JVs, restructuring and capital raising, in Asia, the Middle East and internationally. The company is headquartered in New York with offices in London, Bahrain, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo. BDA employs 55 full-time professional staff across its eight offices, supplemented by a team of senior advisors around the world. BDA’s client list includes Air Products, Apar Industries, Areva, BorgWarner, Cadbury Schweppes, Celestica, DIC, DuPont, Ecolab, Federal-Mogul, Godrej, Hanjin Shipping, Haldex, Henkel, Hercules, Huntsman, Inabata, ITT, Johnson Controls, Johnson Matthey, Kennametal, Kimberly-Clark, Lear, Lubrizol, Mars, Molex, Nalco, Reuters, Rohm & Haas, Ryder, Seera, SigmaKalon, Sumitomo Chemical, Sun Chemical, TATA Auto Components, Tenneco, Timken, Tredegar, WR Grace, and the British Government. Further information on BDA is available at www.bdapartners.com.