Chemicals company Platform Specialty Products Corporation has agreed to acquire Arysta LifeScience Ltd. for approximately $3.51 billion in cash and stock.
According to the Financial Times, the deal will double the size of Platform, which has a market value of approximately $3.35 billion.
Arysta specializes in marketing and distribution of crop protection brands and life science products. It has 3,600 product registrations in more than 100 countries, encompassing insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, biostimulants and value-added nutrients, and its portfolio consists of both agrochemical and biosolutions products.
Platform said that Arysta's operations are highly complementary to the company's existing crop protection businesses. It also noted that the acquisition of the Irish company will not have any impact on Platform's status as a U.S.-domiciled company.
Arysta's president and CEO, Wayne Hewett, is expected to join Platform's senior leadership team as its president. He will lead Platform's three agrochemical businesses in cooperation with the management teams from Chemtura AgroSolutions (CAS), Agriphar and Arysta.
With these three businesses, Platform's agrochemicals offering will include a comprehensive lineup of both traditional and non-traditional crop solutions, the company said. Platform expects to realize in excess of $65 million in synergies from the combination of Arysta, CAS and Agriphar over the next three years.
The acquisition of Arysta remains subject to regulatory approval, but is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2015.
