ARX Equity Partners joins Benson Oak Capital as investor in Bochemie

Bohumín, 2nd November, 2010 – ARX Equity Partners, the CEE focused private equity investment firm, has joined current owner Benson Oak Capital as investor in the Bochemie Group, one of CEE‘s leading producers of household care products and a manufacturer of high value-added specialty chemicals. ARX will take a minority stake in the Group.

The investment by ARX is intended to support and facilitate Bochemie’s strategy to continue to deepen and widen its business activities via acquisitions, in particular in the Central and Southeastern European household care sector, by bolstering available financial resources.

„We gladly welcome an investor with a proven track record and intimate knowledge of the geographies where we wish to expand our key businesses“, said Ladislav Kraus, the CEO of Bochemie Group.

Brian Wardrop, Co-Managing Partner of ARX Equity Partners said: „Bochemie has a tremendous opportunity to grow both organically and via acquisitions in the CEE region, and we are keen to support Benson Oak Capital and Group management in their pursuit of these objectives“.

Benson Oak Capital’s founder Gabriel Eichler is pleased to see that ARX Equity Partners share BOC’s confidence in the group: “We have made a significant commitment to Bochemie Group both in terms of our capital and resources and are delighted to see that ARX shares our confidence in the Group’s growing business”, he commented.

Baker & McKenzie and White & Case assisted the parties in the transaction. Transaction details have not been disclosed.

About Bochemie Group

Bochemie Group is one of the leading Central European producers of household care products. Its key brands include SAVO, which is particularly strong in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and ULTRA in Hungary. The Group is also a global supplier of high value added specialty chemicals, including disinfectants, fungicides, metal surface treatment chemicals and accumulator masses. The Group’s 2010 revenues are expected to reach EUR70 mil.

The Group and Bochemie, its parent company, are headquartered in Bohumín, Czech Republic. The Group further includes EVM, the Hungarian manufacturer of household care products, the Czech engineering company Ekomor, the Polish based pigment manufacturer Permedia and Group’s trading subsidiaries in Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Russia.

Further information is available at www.bochemie.cz and www.savo.eu.