Spartanburg, S.C.-based diversified industrial manufacturer Milliken & Co. has agreed to buy Borchers Group Ltd., a specialty chemicals company headquartered in Westlake.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Milliken said in a news release that the acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of this month, subject to customary closing conditions. The seller is The Jordan Co., a New York-based middle market private equity firm that has owned Borchers since January 2017.
Milliken, founded in 1865, has a presence in the specialty chemicals, floor covering, health care and performance/protective textiles industries. It said in the release that Borchers "carries a respected portfolio of additives for the coatings, inks and adhesives markets with a comprehensive range of cobalt-free driers, dispersants, rheology modifiers, wetting agents, polymerization catalysts and adhesion promoters."
Halsey Cook, president and CEO of Milliken, said in a statement that Borchers "brings particular technical expertise that will boost Milliken's strengths and propel our growth."
Borchers' president and CEO, Devlin Riley, added, "Combining our capabilities and approach with the depth of Milliken's technology and innovation will allow us to provide exemplary solutions to the markets we serve."
A Milliken spokeswoman wrote in an email on Monday evening, Jan. 13, that the company has about 8,000 employees, and that employment at Borchers is around 200. The spokeswoman wrote that the companies do not disclose revenue figures.
In the release, Milliken said that Borchers "sells a broad set of products to approximately 1,000 customers in a wide variety of applications and end markets." The company has manufacturing facilities in the United States and France, as well as technology and business development centers in the U.S., Germany, China and India.