Riverside exits Malaysian chemicals business

The business has been acquired by Caldic, a global chemicals and food distribution business headquartered in the Netherlands, for an undisclosed sum. Caldic said the deal would support its ambitions to expand within Southeast Asia.

Established in 1987 and formerly known as Drex-Chem Malaysia, DCM Asia is a value-added specialty chemical solutions provider that helps international suppliers reach more than 1,000 companies in Malaysia and Southeast Asia. It has three verticals: industrial sciences, which represents 20 suppliers of raw materials for industrial applications; life sciences, which works with 50 businesses in the personal care, homecare and nutrition spaces; and material sciences, a plastics specialist.

Riverside bought the business in 2014, its first acquisition in Southeast Asia. In 2017, it led the bolt-on acquisition of Erapoly Marketing, which ultimately became the materials sciences vertical.

“Our goal has always been to forge strong relationships with our partners and provide innovative, creative and bespoke solutions. Caldic’s full-service specialty strategy perfectly reflects our vision for the future, so we are very happy to become part of Caldic. It means both our customers and employees will benefit from Caldic’s global network and capabilities,” said Deek Sern Lee, CEO of DCM Asia, in a statement.

The DCM investment came from Riverside’s second Asian fund, which closed at $235 million in 2014. Most of the firm’s small buyout opportunities were in Australia and New Zealand, so the successor vehicle will focus on those geographies. Riverside Australia Fund III has a target of $350 million and had raised $147.4 million as of June 2019.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Industrials
• Trade sale
• Malaysia
• The Riverside Company
• Chemicals