New owner for Ascensus

New York-based private investment New Mountain Capital has acquired Ascensus Specialties from its previous majority owner, Wind Point Partners. Terms were not disclosed. Wind Point will continue to invest in the company through a special purpose vehicle raised in association with the transaction.

“With this new partnership, Ascensus will have tremendous access to capital and resources to further invest behind R&D and product innovation in a transformative way,” said CEO Mike Huff. New Mountain itself had previously been active in life sciences via investments in companies like Avantor, Gelest, Aceto and ILC Dover.

Ascensus was originally split off from Vertellus Specialties in 2016 as part of Vertellus’ exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and was mainly active in borohydride from a facility in Elma, Washington. In 2019, it acquired Callery Chemical, the world leader boranes and speciality alcoholates, with a site in Evans City, Pennsylvania (pictured).

In April 2021, Ascensus also acquired Strem Chemicals, a producer of research-grade catalysts, ligands, organometallics, metal carbonyls and CVD/ALD precursors in Newburyport, Massachusetts. It now claims to be the world leader in borohydride, borane and speciality alcoholates and to have achieved double-digit organic growth in recent years.