Houlihan Lokey Advises Sumitomo Chemical

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce the sale of Pace International, LLC (Pace), a subsidiary of Valent Biosciences LLC (Valent), a Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. (TSE:4005; Sumitomo) group company, to AgroFresh Solutions Inc. (AgroFresh), a portfolio company of Paine Schwartz Partners. The transaction closed on March 27, 2024.

Headquartered in Wapato, Washington, Pace is a leading global provider of sustainable chemical solutions, advanced application technologies, and supporting services for postharvest agricultural use. Pace manufactures and supplies edible fruit coatings, fungicides, cleaners, sanitizers, sustainable storage treatments, and application equipment to maximize efficiencies in packing operations and increase the freshness and value of harvested crops.

Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, AgroFresh is a global leader in providing pre- and postharvest solutions, technologies, and services to enhance the quality and extend the shelf life of fresh produce, reducing food waste and improving sustainability throughout the value chain.

The acquisition of Pace bolsters AgroFresh’s presence in key fruit-growing regions in North and South America and further enables AgroFresh to support its global customers with quality and freshness solutions for high-value and highly perishable crops. The transaction also expands AgroFresh’s postharvest solutions to a broader portfolio of technology, services, and digital solutions in both the organic and conventional produce categories.

In addition, AgroFresh and Valent plan to develop a strategic collaboration to accelerate the development of new innovations to address the most pressing challenges in the freshness protection space. This collaboration aims to capitalize on the expertise and technology pipeline of Valent to develop new postharvest products, services, and digital solutions and to leverage AgroFresh’s global scale and reach to bring them to market.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Sumitomo.

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