Houston Equity Firm Purchases Mayville’s Wilkinson Chemical

Houston’s Junction Capital Partners, a private equity firm, has acquired Wilkinson Chemical in Mayville, east of Frankenmuth. Wilkinson produces and sells calcium chloride solution, which is used for dust and ice control. The company will now operate under the name Wilkinson Solutions. Financial details of deal were not disclosed.
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truck treating dirt road withcalcium chloride solution
Junction Capital Partners has acquired Wilkinson Chemical, which makes calcium chloride solution for dust and ice control. Pictured is a truck treating a dirt road. // Photo courtesy of Wilkinson Chemical

Houston’s Junction Capital Partners, a private equity firm, has acquired Wilkinson Chemical in Mayville, east of Frankenmuth. Wilkinson produces and sells calcium chloride solution, which is used for dust and ice control. The company will now operate under the name Wilkinson Solutions. Financial details of deal were not disclosed.

“We’ve studied the market for an extended period and believe the acquisition of a long-standing player like Wilkinson provides a strategic foundation on which we can build our world class production facility,” says Rob Johnson, partner at Junction. “JCP believes the calcium chloride market has attractive fundamentals, which are supportive of adding new supply to serve growing customer needs in a number of applications.”

Wilkinson was founded in 1948 and produces 150,000 tons of calcium chloride solution each year. It expects to begin shipments of ASTM-specification liquid calcium chloride in the third quarter.

Wilkinson Minerals, an affiliate, has also announced a project to expand the business and produce ASTM liquid calcium chloride, briners, and food-grade products including liquid, flake, and pellet forms. A new facility is being designed to produce up to 500,000 tons annually, and Wilkinson Minerals plans to make its first deliveries of liquid, flake, and solid calcium chloride in 2022.

“The Wilkinson acquisition is the first step in building a business to serve calcium chloride customers with new supply,” says Rick Billings, who will lead the new Wilkinson platform and has more than 40 years of experience in the calcium chloride industry.