Two zinc chemical firms combined

Private equity firm Aterian Investment Partners has acquired EverZinc and will combine it with existing affiliate US Zinc to make the world’s largest maker of zinc chemical products. This will be based in Houston and will operate under the EverZinc name, with EverZinc CEO Vincent Dujardin becoming CEO and US Zinc president and CEO Joel Hawthorne as vice chairman.

The existing EverZinc has ten sites in Belgium, Canada, China, the Netherlands, Norway and Malaysia, and is active in speciality zinc materials, including fine zinc powders, zinc oxides, battery zinc powders and Zano, an ultra-fine zinc oxide. US Zinc, meanwhile, has four facilities in Texas and Tennessee, making zinc oxide, fine zinc powder and zinc metal.

Aterian noted that zinc is the fourth most common metal in use in the world “and has made considerable inroads as a potential material of choice in nascent markets”. These include the use of zinc oxide in sunscreens, and of zinc air and nickel zinc in stationary power storage. Other markets include pharmaceuticals, general chemicals, textiles, agriculture, feed, rubber, paints and coatings.

“We built a long-term thesis around zinc chemistry, starting with our platform investment in US Zinc,” said Christopher H. Thomas, co-founder and partner at Aterian. “As one of the most widely available and sustainable metals in the world, zinc is uniquely recyclable and has applications critical to our future.”