Products and Technologies
Relevant Industrial | January 09, 2024
Relevant Industrial, LLC a leader in value-added distribution and service for instrumentation and automation, rotating equipment, valve, purification, and thermal equipment solutions, announced the acquisition of CHEMFLOW Products and its subsidiaries, CHEMSeal Couplings and ChlorineValves.com (CHEMFLOW).
CHEMFLOW is a leading value-added distributor and manufacturers' representative specializing in precision-engineered Flow Control products for Chemical services. With over 75 years of combined expertise, CHEMFLOW has brought together the highest quality manufacturers of valves, automation, breakaway couplings, safety shutdown systems, and hoses, affording customers specially designed solutions meeting stringent industry standards for hazardous chemical bulk transfer in the safest possible way. CHEMFLOW brings an unmatched expertise in packaging a full range of products and services designed to improve reliability, enhance safety and environmental impact, and minimize downtime.
Relevant Industrial's strategic acquisition of CHEMFLOW Products aligns seamlessly with its commitment to delivering comprehensive and cutting-edge solutions to clients across various industries. This move enhances Relevant Industrial's portfolio, allowing the company to offer a broader range of services and products to its clientele, as well as offer Relevant's unique set of industrial automation solutions to CHEMFLOW's strong customer base.
John Carte, CEO of Relevant Industrial, expressed enthusiasm about the acquisition, stating, "The addition of CHEMFLOW Products to the Relevant Industrial family is a significant step forward in our mission to provide top-tier solutions to our customers. CHEMFLOW's extensive experience and proficiency in Flow Control products for hazardous chemicals complement our capabilities. We are confident that this acquisition will both benefit our customers and contribute to the continued growth and success of Relevant Industrial."
Mike Johnson, CEO of CHEMFLOW Products, shared his perspective on the collaboration, stating, "We are thrilled to join forces with Relevant Industrial. This partnership represents a strategic alignment of values, expertise, and commitment to customer satisfaction. Together, we look forward to delivering innovative solutions and unparalleled value to our customers." As part of this collaboration, Mike will transition to the role of Vice President of Chlor-alkali Business Development within the dynamic CHEMFLOW/Relevant team. In this capacity, he will leverage his extensive industry knowledge and strong leadership skills to lead initiatives aimed at expanding Relevant Industrial's footprint in the chlor-alkali sector.
CHEMFLOW Products and its subsidiaries will become an integral part of Relevant Industrial, contributing to the company's expanded workforce of over 450 employees. The combined entity will operate from a total of 30 strategic locations, further adding to existing customer service capabilities and extending its reach across the majority of the lower 48 states. With an OEM status that provides a global reach, Relevant Industrial is poised to further strengthen its position as an industry leader.
This strategic acquisition is anticipated to create collaborative dynamics that will not only benefit customers, partners, and employees but also propel Relevant Industrial and CHEMFLOW Products into a new era of mutual growth and innovation. The powerful combination of expertise and resources between Relevant Industrial and CHEMFLOW Products opens new horizons for both companies, fostering accelerated customer service, deeper chemical industry capabilities, and enhanced technical expertise.
About CHEMFLOW
CHEMFLOW Products LLC, celebrated for its unwavering commitment to "SOLUTIONS WITH INTEGRITY," functions as a Manufacturers' Representative Company specializing in Flow Control products designed for applications in Chemical services. With a focal point on Hazardous Chemicals, the company exhibits distinct expertise in various domains, including Chlor-akali, AgChem, Vinyls, Urethanes, Refrigerants, Polysilicon, Pigments, and HF Alkylation. A distinguished leader in Flow Control solutions for hazardous chemicals, CHEMFLOW has been a stalwart in serving industries for over 15 years. Their specialization encompasses applications involving Chlorine, Chlor-akali, AgChem, Vinyls, Urethanes, Refrigerants, Polysilicon, Pigments, and HF Alkylation, showcasing unparalleled proficiency in specialty valve applications, safety shutdown systems, bulk transfer hose & coupling, and sampling valves.
About Relevant Industrial
Relevant Industrial, LLC, is a leading value-added distribution channel serving mission-critical applications across diverse industries. Founded in 1965 as Wilson-Mohr, today Relevant is a dynamic partner providing expert solutions in instrumentation and automation, rotating equipment, valves and valve actuation, purification, and thermal equipment. Relevant Industrial brings together the finest problem-solvers in the world: trained technicians, engineers, designers, and experts in a dozen other crafts focused on finding answers and delivering results. We sell parts and services, but our mission goes beyond that; we help customers realize new and better ways to operate more efficiently. Every solution we deliver is specialized and customized for each demanding situation a client presents to us.
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Chemical Technology
Chemify | January 23, 2024
Chemify and Prepaire™ Labs announced to expand their partnership with an additional program to tackle the ongoing Opioid crisis and develop a novel class of digitally discovered non-addictive Opioids as pain modulators, as well as drugs tackling Opioid addiction directly by combining Chemify's breakthrough programmable chemistry platform with Prepaire’s integrated novel open collaboration drug discovery platform. The project, named Toxifree, comes in response to the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) requesting drugmakers and researchers to develop treatments for stimulant use disorder, hoping to address a major gap in the addiction crisis response.
After a successful initial partnership, Chemify and Prepaire are now aiming to leverage Chemify's Chemputation technology which enables the automated and integrated design, discovery, and synthesis of complex molecules on demand using a chemical programming language and Prepaire's advanced open-architecture drug development platform.
Under the terms of this partnership, Chemify will design and discover novel compounds to identify Opioid-derived hits and develop them further into candidates. Chemify will receive at least USD $30 million in payments and pre-negotiated, success-driven clinical and regulatory milestones for each developed molecule, as well as single digit royalties on any resulting products.
Lee Cronin, Chemify's Founder and CEO and Regius Professor of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow has extensive experience leading research efforts to develop solutions for the opioid crisis. Cronin lead a team that won several NIH-prize challenges including winning the grand runner up prize for the design, discovery and automated synthesis of next generation, safer and non-addictive drug-candidates to help address the opioid crisis.
"We are extremely excited to combine Chemify's technology for molecular design, discovery and synthesis with the integrated Prepaire platform to expand our collaboration and create a fully integrated, digitally driven drug discovery approach. With this partnership we are breaking ground on a new pain modulation discovery program that aims to tackle the global need for better and non-addictive pain medication. With our unique design approach guided by Chemputation, we are utilizing an evolutionary approach to discovering novel compounds to solve this devastating and critical healthcare need," said Professor Lee Cronin, Chemify's Founder and CEO.
"Our partnership with Chemify allows our discovery platform to integrate directly with Chemify's chemical space exploration approach, enabling us to access novel chemical matter that would have otherwise been inaccessible. As we progress our collaboration, we are aiming to build an integrated approach that can be used for many more indications beyond novel pain modulators. There aren't any approved treatments to help address addiction to opioids, whose use has surged in recent years. The purpose of this FDA guidance is to assist in the clinical trial designs for the development of novel drugs to support indications for treatment of moderate to severe cocaine use disorder, treatment of moderate to severe methamphetamine use disorder, or treatment of moderate to severe prescription stimulant use disorder," said Dr Vicent Ribas, Prepaire’s Co-Founder.
About Chemputation
Digital chemistry applies principles of computation to chemistry for programable chemistry and Chemify has developed the underpinning infrastructure to make this possible for chemical discovery and synthesis. Like a computer program, digital chemistry programs can automatically run chemical experiments, make new molecules, and ensure that complex chemical recipes are always accessible and perfectly reproducible. Chemical programs are precise pieces of code that allow fully transparent and reliable operation allowing the implementation of AI and other techniques with full audit and safety.
About Chemify
Based in Glasgow, Chemify is a pioneering company digitizing chemistry to provide world-leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and industrial partners access to an exponentially growing space of novel molecules and materials. By leveraging decades of chemistry experience, hardware robotics, and artificial intelligence, Chemify's Chemputation technology enables companies to access an end-to-end workflow for drug discovery, molecule synthesis, and materials discovery. Chemify was founded by CEO Lee Cronin based on conceptual advancements from Cronin's Digital Chemistry Laboratory at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. By building the infrastructure to digitize chemistry, Chemify is reimagining chemical research, discovery and manufacturing to benefit all of humanity by accelerating advances across chemistry with a focus on medicine and functional materials.
About Prepaire Labs
Prepaire Labs is a pioneering healthcare technology company focused on revolutionizing drug discovery and precision medicine. Through the integration of deep learning and biology, Prepaire Labs builds predictive models grounded in genetic, phenotypic, and clinical data. These models form a view to the underlying architecture and biology of diseases. Prepaire Labs utilizes patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), genome editing, high-content cellular phenotyping, and machine learning to create in vitro disease models that optimize genetics, cell-type, environment, and multidimensional data collection for increased predictability of human clinical outcomes. A state-of-the-art BSL3 lab is opening in May 2024, located at Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
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Chemical Management
Shrieve | January 11, 2024
Shrieve Chemical Company a portfolio company of Gemspring Capital and a leading, value-added chemicals distributor, announced that it has acquired TLC Ingredients ("TLC"), a distributor of food ingredients, industrial chemicals, and phenolic resins based in Crest Hill, Illinois. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 2001, TLC has built a reputation as a premier distributor, distinguished by a dedication to operational excellence, food safety, and responsible distribution. With a class-leading facility in the Midwest, the company is well-equipped to meet the evolving needs of customers with high service levels.
The acquisition expands Shrieve's presence in the Midwest and enhances the company's ability to serve the attractive – and growing – food ingredients end-market. Additionally, it positions Shrieve strategically to leverage its existing product lines to serve TLC's high-growth specialty industrial customers, who have relied on TLC as a trusted supplier of Durez phenolic resins for more than two decades.
"I am thrilled to welcome TLC Ingredients to the Shrieve Chemical family. This acquisition underscores our commitment to excellence and focus on long-term growth as we look to thoughtfully increase our presence and the value-added services we can provide across the country," said George Fuller, CEO of Shrieve. "The TLC team has built an exceptional business with an industry-leading distribution facility, long-standing supplier relationships, and a broad product offering that serves several attractive global end-markets. TLC's expertise, innovative approach, and customer focus aligns very well with our broader strategic vision. Together, we look forward to delivering enhanced value to our customers and supplier partners."
"We are excited about the future as we partner with Shrieve and continue to expand, building on our reputation as one of the highest-quality food ingredient and chemical distributors in the United States," said Tommy Turiff, President of TLC Ingredients. "Our shared commitment to excellence and dedication to our customers make this an ideal partnership. We look forward to bringing our combined expertise and capabilities to the market and continuing to serve our customers with enhanced resources and innovation."
About Shrieve
Shrieve, based in The Woodlands, TX, is a leading, value-added chemicals distributor serving attractive markets and end-use applications globally. Since its founding in 1978, Shrieve has leveraged its knowledge network to find the best match between suppliers, customer needs, and product applications. Through its four operating segments, Chemical Distribution, Specialty Lubricants and Enhancers, Energy Products and Services, and Custom Packaging, Shrieve markets nearly 1,500 products across more than 40 countries.
About TLC Ingredients
Based in Crest Hill, IL, TLC Ingredients is a distributor of food ingredients, industrial chemicals, and phenolic resins. The company was founded in 2001 and provides its customers and suppliers with the highest levels of service. TLC's corporate culture is built on the twin pillars of Food Safety and Responsible Distribution.
About Gemspring Capital
Gemspring Capital, a Westport, Connecticut-based private equity firm with $3.5 billion of capital under management, provides flexible capital solutions to middle market companies. Gemspring partners with talented management teams and takes a partnership approach to helping drive revenue growth, value creation and sustainable competitive advantages. Target companies have up to $500 million in revenue and are in the aerospace & defense, business services, consumer services, financial and insurance services, healthcare services, industrial services, software and tech-enabled services, or specialty manufacturing sectors.
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