Dr. Uwe Nickel becomes new partner for the strategic expansion the M&A business in the chemical industry

Zurich, June 5, 2020 – Proventis Partners, one of the largest independent M&A advisory firms in the DACH region, continues its consistent growth course with another key appointment: Dr. Uwe Nickel (born 1958) will be a new partner in the Zurich office and will help drive the strategic expansion of the transaction business and advisory services in the chemical industry.  

Prior joining Proventis Partners, Uwe Nickel was CEO of the HCS Group, a leading provider of high-quality hydrocarbon-based specialties. He managed the carve-out of the traditional medium-sized company Haltermann from an American chemical group and subsequently developed the HCS Group, a specialty chemicals company with international operations today, through organic growth and several medium-sized acquisitions in Europe and North America. In 2019 he moved from the CEO position to the Supervisory Board of the HCS Group. Prior to this, Uwe Nickel worked for the management consulting company Arthur D. Little in the chemical, agrochemical and pharmaceutical sector and as a member of the Board of Management at Clariant International. 

At Proventis Partners, Uwe Nickel will further expand the scope of
advisory services for clients in the chemical industry and for private equity companies with chemical interests. He will contribute his many years of experience in top management and his proven expertise in the chemical industry to M&A processes. He stands for the practical approach of Proventis Partners as a strategic and at the same time operative process partner.

“We are pleased to have won Uwe Nickel as an experienced chemistry expert and a proven leader as a partner for Proventis Partners and for our global Mergers Alliance. Uwe brings a comprehensive understanding of the complex requirements of modern chemical companies to our team and knows how to translate the challenges of this industry into M&A opportunities for our clients. His strategic experience, his operational track record and last but not least his large network in the global chemical industry will provide us with optimal support for future transactions”, said Christoph Studinka, Managing Partner and co-founder of Proventis Partners Zurich.

“I am looking forward to this new challenge at Proventis Partners, who have an excellent reputation as a responsible, strategic partner for the SME sector due to their practice-oriented M&A services – regionally active with a global network”, said Uwe Nickel. “The new position combines my many years of experience in building up and managing various international chemical businesses in listed companies as well as in the private equity environment”.

In the chemicals sector, Proventis Partners already has a good track record: In the Advanced Materi- als segment in particular, transactions supported by Proventis Partners include the acquisition of Polypag by SIKA, the sale of the STI Group and the carve-out of the Otto Bock Group’s foam business. Other chemical transactions included the acquisition of Azeli’s composite business by Velox Group in 2013, the sale of the Velox Group to IMCD in 2018, advising Velox on the structuring of several financing transactions, advising the Hannover Finanz Group on a minority stake in the BÜFA Group and advising the ADDCON Group on a succession solution.
With the addition of Uwe Nickel to the team, Proventis Partners will establish the chemical industry as another focus sector.

About Dr. Uwe Nickel

Born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, he started his career at Cassella AG, where he held various positions in Research & Development, Corporate and Production. In 1996, he joined Hoechst AG as a member of the management of the “Surfactants and Auxilliaries” division. In 1997 he joined the Clariant Group, a global specialty chemicals company, where he held various management positions in the “Pigments & Additives” division until 2003, when he was appointed member of the Board of Management of Clariant International in Switzerland. This was followed by positions at Arthur D. Little and as CEO of the HCS Group.

Dr. Uwe Nickel studied chemistry at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt and holds a doctorate in organic chemistry.

About Proventis Partners

Proventis Partners is a partner-managed M&A advisory firm whose clients include mainly corporate groups, medium-sized family businesses and private equity funds. With 30 M&A consultants, Proventis Partners is one of the largest independent M&A consultancies in the DACH region with offices in Hamburg, Cologne, Munich and Zurich. The industry focus of the partners includes Industrials, Business Services, Consumer & Retail, TMT, Healthcare, Energy as well as Chemical Industry and Agro, where the partners can look back on more than 300 successfully completed transactions with a cumulative transaction value of 10 billion Euros. Through its exclusive membership in Mergers Alliance – the leading international partnership of M&A specialists who have realized more than 800 transactions worldwide with a total value of around 40 billion US dollars since 2010 – Proventis Partners offers market coverage in the world’s leading business centers. Through the 20 members of the Mergers Alliance, with over 200 M&A professionals in 40 offices, Proventis Partners has direct access to local decision makers in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and Africa.