Mr. Harrs is a Managing Director at Houlihan Lokey and Head of the Chemicals practice. As a member of the firm’s Industrials Group, he is responsible for managing banking relationships with public and private clients in the global chemical and related sectors and providing strategic ideas and advice related to M&A activity and capital raising. Mr. Harrs focuses on specialty chemicals and related subsectors, including formulated products, adhesives, sealants, coatings, and resins. He is based in the firm’s New York office.
Mr. Harrs has more than 20 years of investment banking experience in the chemicals industry. Prior to joining Houlihan Lokey, he was Managing Director and Co-Head of Corporate Finance at C&Co/PrinceRidge. Previously, he was a Managing Director in the Industrial Group at KeyBanc Capital Markets, where he was responsible for advising companies in the chemicals sector and originating M&A and financing transactions. Mr. Harrs was previously a Managing Director and Global Head of Chemicals with Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW). Mr. Harrs joined DrKW in 2001 and was based in London between 2005 and 2006. Prior to DrKW, he was a Vice President in Chase Securities Inc.’s Global Chemicals Group in New York.
Mr. Harrs’ advisory experience includes: the sale of Dunn-Edwards paint company to Nippon Paint Holdings; the sale of Vantage Specialty Chemicals to H.I.G. Capital; the sale of Cimcool metalworking fluids to DuBois Chemicals; the sale of Kano Laboratories lubricants business to Gryphon Investors; the sale of VanDeMark Chemical to Comvest Partners; the acquisition of Gelest silicones by Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.; the sale of Environmental Operating Solutions, Inc. (EOSi) to XPV Water Partners; the sale of ADA Carbon Solutions to ADES; the acquisition of the activated carbon business of Arkema by Calgon Carbon; the sale of Cilbond adhesives to Royal Adhesives; the sale of NatureWax to Cargill, Inc.; the sale of Momentive’s North American coating and composite resins business to Investindustrial; the sale of Liquamelt adhesives business to H.B. Fuller; the sale of Momentive’s global ink and adhesive resins business to Harima Chemicals Group, Inc.; and the sale of Arch Chemicals’ industrial wood coatings business to Sherwin-Williams Co.
Mr. Harrs holds an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia and a B.A. from Columbia University, where he majored in Economics. He serves on the President’s Advisory Committee of Regis High School in New York City.