W. R. Grace Deepens Pharma Portfolio with Fine Chemistry Services Acquisition

Chemicals company W. R. Grace & Co. today announced the completion of its acquisition of the Fine Chemistry Services (FCS) business of Albemarle Corp. The transaction is valued at approximately $570 million, including $300 million in cash and $270 million funded through the issuance to Albemarle of non-participating preferred equity of a newly created Grace subsidiary.

“FCS brings compelling innovation and manufacturing capabilities to our Materials Technologies business, enabling us to better serve our customers with high-value solutions that span every stage of their development cycle,” said Hudson La Force, Grace President and CEO. “We are thrilled to welcome the FCS team to Grace and look forward to leveraging their deep expertise to strengthen and expand our fast-growing pharma portfolio.”

Pharma and consumer is the largest, fastest growing. and most profitable subsegment within its Materials Technologies business, said Grace in its announcement.

“FCS builds on the strengths of our Materials Technologies portfolio by expanding our expertise and offerings and further deepens our position in high-growth pharma markets such as oncology, diabetes, cardiovascular, and antiviral,” said Sandra Wisniewski, President, Grace Materials Technologies. “The talented and engaged team shares our values and vision to be indispensable to our customers. Our customers will be delighted with the benefits of the combined innovation and manufacturing capabilities,” said Wisniewski.

Grace added that the FCS portfolio brings complementary analytical, regulatory, and manufacturing capabilities to its existing pharma portfolio focused on chromatographic resins, formulation excipients and drug delivery, pharmaceutical intermediates, and active pharmaceutical ingredients.