Dominion Colour Corporation Acquires Businesses from BASF SE

On January 19, 2010, Dominion Colour Corporation completed its acquisition from BASF SE of the bismuth vanadate (BV) and indanthrone blue (IB) pigment businesses formally owned by CIBA Holding Inc. BV and IB pigments are primarily used for colouring paints for the automotive industry and are manufactured in plants in the Netherlands and France.

BASF merged with CIBA in 2009. The US Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission approved the merger, but ordered BASF to divest some of CIBA's assets, including the BV and IB businesses. BASF conducted an auction which resulted in DCC being selected as the preferred bidder. Closing was conditional on DCC receiving FTC and EC approval as a suitable purchaser.

DCC worked with Newpoint Capital Partners Inc. to obtain financing for the acquisitions. Financing was eventually provided by DCC's existing lender, CIT Business Credit Canada Inc. DCC's auditors, PWC, did the tax planning and new subsidiaries were set up in the Netherlands and Barbados. In Europe DCC was represented by our Terralex affiliate in the Netherlands, Boekle de Neree.

Dominion Colour Corporation was represented by a team from Lang Michener that included David Thring (Banking & Project Finance) and Shannon Seitz (Business) who worked on the closing, which took place in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Mark Mitchell (Intellectual Property) reviewed the BV and IB patents and Yasin Bismilla (Intellectual Property) assisted with the patent assignments. David Thring, Sean Rimoin (Banking & Project Finance) and Matthew German (Real Estate) worked on the financing. Daniel Edmondstone (Competition) looked after the FTC and EC work, as well as the competition filings in other countries.