The transaction is a pivotal point in Sonneborns history, said Sonneborn CEO Bob Muller. With [One Equity Partners] significant capital injection, the company is well positioned for future growth.

Muller said Sonneborn is excited about the new product slate it has been developing for several years. We’re gaining significant traction in many areas, including ultra high viscosity white oils, all-natural petrolatum products, silicone replacement products, our fourth generation compressor lubricants, specialty wax blends, and asphalt modifiers, he told Lube Report. We believe that emerging markets provide attractive opportunities as customers begin to demand higher product quality, and greater sales and technical support.

Jeremy Stone, a Sun Capital Partners vice president, noted that One Equity was very familiar with Sonneborn. One Equity is a financial firm but they have a lot of experience in the specialty chemicals industry, Stone told Lube Report. They were able to do their due diligence very fast. We were able to explain to them the value in Sonneborn. Even though were out of the company, we would like to see the continued growth of the company, and we think One Equity is well positioned to do that.

In June 2005, Sun Capital acquired Crompton Corp.s refined products business for $80 million and named the newly spun-off company Sonneborn, adopting the identity it had used for the first half of the 20^th century. In July 2005, Crompton Corp. and Great Lakes Chemical finalized a $2 billion merger to form Chemtura Corp. In 2010, Sonneborn acquired Chemturas sodium sulfonate and oxidized petrolatum businesses.

Stone noted the improvements Sun made at Sonneborn since the 2005 acquisition included recruiting a new management team, improving its sourcing and procurement strategy and taking a close look at Sonneborns product offerings. We rationalized, or eliminated our lower margin business to really focus on our higher growth, higher margin products, he said.