Azelis boosts its life sciences portfolio in Australia with the acquisition of CW Pacific

Azelis is delighted to announce that it has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of CW Pacific, Elle Bee Exports, CW Pacific Specialties and EB1 Pty Ltd (“CW Pacific”) in Australia. CW Pacific specializes in the distribution of food ingredients for the bakery and meat market as well as specialty chemicals for the horticulture market. They primarily serve the Australian market but also Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and other Pacific Islands.

Highlights & rationale

• The acquisition of CW Pacific will boost the footprint of Azelis Australia in the life sciences sector.
• CW Pacific and Azelis are both focused on a steady expansion of technical expertise to bring innovative solutions to customers.
• The transaction, consistent with Azelis' corporate strategy of complementing organic growth with strategic acquisitions, is expected to close in two months.

CW Pacific was established in 1997 and employs 17 people. All employees will become part of Azelis, including Founder and Managing Director Skip Webb. Azelis has offices in Sydney and Melbourne while CW Pacific has offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Azelis runs paper, leather & textile and CASE dedicated application laboratories while CW Pacific has a food test kitchen in Brisbane that provides innovative solutions to its customers.

Laurent Nataf, CEO & President of Azelis Asia Pacific, comments:

“The portfolio of CW Pacific is highly complementary to our current one and will boost the life sciences range of Azelis Australia and New Zealand. The acquisition of CW Pacific will increase our market presence and overall product offering and will generate cross-selling opportunities in food and agrochemicals. Customers of CW Pacific and Azelis will benefit from the improved product range, while it will also facilitate our sales growth in the food market of New Zealand, to name only some of such opportunities.”

Skip Webb, Founder and Managing Director of CW Pacific, says:

“We have built an excellent local commercial presence in the market over the years. By becoming part of a strong international player such as Azelis, we will bring considerable added value for our principals, our customers as well as to the team of CW Pacific. This new partnership will provide continuity of our business and access to additional customers and suppliers, as well as further expertise, infrastructure and growth opportunities. In short, we see many synergies and we are thrilled about the next chapter in our company history.”

Camiel Huisman, Managing Director of Azelis Australia, adds:

“The excellent market presence in food and agriculture that CW Pacific has established, in combination with the global principals that Azelis has access to, will enable us to distribute an even more diverse and more competitive range of food and agriculture ingredients into the Oceania market. We are looking forward to building on this extended platform.”

Azelis gained a leading position in Australia and New Zealand with the acquisition of Chemcolour back in 2017.

The acquisition of CW Pacific illustrates the support provided by EQT since the initial acquisition of Azelis. EQT is confident that the expanded range of services and global reach provided by this acquisition will continue to bring benefits to customers and principals of the combined group.