PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Clayton Dubilier & Rice Inc said on Wednesday it agreed to invest $477 million to get a 46 percent stake in commercial cleaning company JohnsonDiversey as part of a broader $2.6 billion recapitalization.
JohnsonDiversey, which has annual sales of more than $3 billion, provides cleaning and sanitation services for the retail, healthcare and food and beverage industries in more than 175 countries.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Johnson Family of Racine, Wisconsin, will retain a 50 percent ownership stake in the company, and S. Curtis Johnson will remain chairman. CD&R Operating Partner James Berges will serve as chairman of the executive committee.
Unilever will also retain a 4 percent ownership interest in the company, which will continue under separate agreements to sell and distribute certain Unilever and S.C. Johnson & Son Inc products.
JohnsonDiversey has been one-third owned by Unilever NV (UNc.AS) since its acquisition of DiverseyLever in 2002. As part of that deal, JohnsonDiversey agreed to purchase all or part of Unilevers ownership stake at a future date.
The company also said it would change its name to “Diversey Inc.”
(Reporting by Jessica Hall; Editing Bernard Orr)
If you do not receive this within five minutes, please try and sign in again. If the problem persists, please
email: subscriptions@peimedia.com.