Elliott’s Speyside single-asset CV closes on more than half a billion

Elliott Management has closed a continuation fund transaction involving a speciality chemicals manufacturer.

The activist investment firm was lead investor in a process involving Speyside Equity asset Opta Group, according to a statement. The continuation fund was worth $620 million, according to two sources familiar with the transaction.

The transaction allows Opta to “write the second chapter” of value creation via key product launches and acquisitions, Eric Wiklendt, managing director at Speyside, said in the statement.

Affiliate title Buyouts reported this month that Elliott, which has been quietly making its name as an investor in continuation fund deals, was set to back the deal.

Jefferies advised on the transaction, with McDermott Will & Emery providing legal counsel to Speyside and Debevoise & Plimpton as legal counsel to Elliott, according to the statement.

Opta Group is a provider of speciality chemicals used in steel, construction, wastewater and glass industries across North America. Speyside first invested in 2016 through its first fund, which closed on $130 million in 2016, according to PEI Group data.

Detroit-based Speyside was formed in 2004. It is led by Kevin Daugherty, Eric Wiklendt and Nicholas Lardo, according to the firm’s website.

Single-asset deals accounted for 45 percent of mid-market-focused continuation funds that closed in the first half of this year, according to PJT Partners’ H1 2023 Secondary Market Insight report. Such transactions priced at a 4 percent discount to net asset value on average during the period, higher than a 13 percent discount for multi-asset continuation funds and a 20 percent discount for tender offers, according to PJT’s report.

– Chris Witkowsky contributed to this report