Permira-owned Arysta LifeScience files for US IPO

Permira has hired Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan Chase to lead the offering, which is expected to value to company at around $4 billion.

Arysta - which makes insecticides, weed killers and plant-nutrition products - was formed in 2001 when the life-sciences divisions of Japan's Tomen Corp. and trading company Nichimen Corp, owned by Sojitz Holdings Corp, combined.

Permira acquired Arysta from Olympus Capital in 2007 for around $2.2 billion and moved its headquarters to Dublin from Tokyo last year, taking advantage of Ireland's low corporate tax rates.

Arysta's global sales span Japan, China, Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe and North America. The IPO filing shows that the company's consolidated sales increased by $40.9 million - 2.8% - to $1,508.9 million for year ended December 31, 2013 from from $1,468.1 million in 2012.

According to consultancy Phillips McDougall, the global agrochemical market was estimated at $54 billion in 2013, growing at a CAGR of 6.8% between 2003 and 2013. Key market categories include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides.

In June, Permira reached a final close on its fifth global buyout fund, Permira V, at the hard cap of EUR5.3 billion ($7.2 billion). The new fund will follow the firm's long-term investment strategy of backing market-leading businesses with the potential to expand overseas.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Industrials
• Exits
• Permira Advisers
• Japan
• Agriculture
• Exit
• IPO