Caldic joins the global top league in ingredients and specialty chemicals distribution following merger with Connell

SINGAPORE and HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 1 March 2023 - Today, the global top league in ingredients and specialty chemicals distribution welcomed a new player in the form of Caldic.

On February 28, 2023, the transaction to merge Caldic and Asia-Pacific-based Connell closed, enabling Caldic to position itself firmly alongside the leading players in specialty chemicals distribution. The strong regional presence of Connell helps Caldic to create a unique global growth platform with substantial footholds in two high-growth regions, in Asia-Pacific, and in Latin America, following the merger with GTM last year. The significant global footprint provides unique opportunities to create value for both principals and customers and will drive investments in people, technical expertise and application centers, as well as manufacturing and warehousing sites to support the delivery of innovative and sustainable solutions. The Asia-Pacific region will operate under the Connell Caldic brand.

On October 13, 2022, Advent International, financial sponsor of Caldic, and Wilbur-Ellis, owner of Connell, announced the agreement to combine their life sciences and material sciences distribution businesses focused on nutrition, (bio)pharma, personal care and industrial formulations. The partnership between Advent International and Wilbur-Ellis is founded on a long term shareholder commitment and a shared vision of building a fully integrated growth and innovation focused business.

Alexander Wessels, Group CEO, stated, "The global scale of our business will unlock multiple opportunities to create value with our business partners. Today's worldwide reach will make our offering of unique value-added services and products more widely accessible to the food & nutrition, (bio)pharma, personal care and industrial formulation markets, which will fuel new business development potential across the supply chain. Our ambition is to redefine the parameters of added value in the ingredients and specialty chemicals distribution sector, offering our customers a new standard in customized solutions. We are thrilled at the prospect of partnering with the highly skilled and experienced Connell team to deliver these relevant and impactful solutions for our principals and customers alike."

"We are very excited to embark on our joint journey as part of Caldic," said Azita Owlia, CEO of Connell Caldic APAC. "Our customers are increasingly demanding customized solutions and extended supply chain services. We are committed to leverage the complementarity and synergies between both companies' value-added product portfolio and broader manufacturing and distribution facilities, to the benefit of our principals and customers. Asia-Pacific is a high-growth region with tremendous potential and the joint expertise and capabilities will allow us to help our current and new customers to seize such opportunities. Together we can make a much bigger positive impact in the life sciences and material sciences markets."

Key facts & figures consolidated Caldic as of 1 March 2023

Turnover	Euro ~ 3 billion
FTE	~ 3,500
Presence	Europe, Latin America, North America and Asia-Pacific: 43 countries
Markets	Food, (bio)pharma, personal care and industrial formulations
Value-add capabilities	Manufacturing services: repacking, filling, labeling, mixing, blending (e.g. under GMP conditions) Technical and application support: formulation, application, product development and testing labs across 75 expertise centers around the world. Distribution: warehousing (e.g. cGMP), regulatory support, quality control

Hashtag: #Caldic #Connell

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About Caldic

"Because we care", we touch the lives of hundreds of thousands of people every day. We inspire innovative and sustainable solutions in life science and material science for the food, pharmaceutical, personal care and industrial formulation markets around the world. Our solutions, carefully sourced and customized to exacting specifications whenever required, are backed by research & development, customer service, technical & regulatory support, ensuring that they meet precisely determined needs at every stage of the value chain.

Across Europe, Latin America, North America and Asia Pacific, our approximately 3,500 employees go the extra mile, day in and day out, to deliver value-added solutions to our customers. In our activities, we embrace the principles of sustainability, designing products, services and processes with these principles in mind. From formulation to delivery, from ingredient to packing, from supplier to customer, we care about every detail of what we do. Because every detail is in our care.