Rain Commodities to buy Ruetgers for $915 mn

To buy German coal tar distilling company from Nordic private equity firm Triton for 702 mn euros

Industrial group Rain Commodities has agreed to buy German coal tar distilling company Ruetgers from Nordic private equity firm Triton for 702 million euros.

The sale of Ruetgers, a maker of industrial pitch, oils and resins for use in aluminium smelters and the steel industry, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2013, Triton said in a statement on Monday.

Bankers familiar with the process have said that investor Pamplona had been in advanced talks to buy the business for more than 600 million euros, but walked away from the talks.

Triton had also been in talks with prospective buyers such as chemicals company Himadri in Asia, where the coal tar industry is growing fastest, they said.

 

As Triton struggled to strike a deal it prepared to take a dividend out of the German firm, a move that revived the interest of prospective trade buyers, banking sources said this month.