AZ Electronic Materials was a Luxembourg

specialty chemicals Specialty chemicals (also called specialties or effect chemicals) are particular chemical products that provide a wide variety of effects on which many other industry sectors rely. Some of the categories of speciality chemicals are adhesives, agr ...

company that produced chemicals used in the manufacture electronics such as

integrated circuit An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components a ...

s and

flat panel display A flat-panel display (FPD) is an electronic display used to display visual content such as text or images. It is present in consumer, medical, transportation, and industrial equipment. Flat-panel displays are thin, lightweight, provide better ...

s. The company was acquired by

Merck Group The Merck Group, branded and commonly known as Merck, is a German Multinational corporation, multinational science and technology company headquartered in Darmstadt, with about 60,000 employees and a presence in 66 countries. The group include ...

in 2014.

History

The company was established in the 1950s as a division of Hoechst (now

Sanofi Sanofi S.A. is a French Multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and healthcare company headquartered in Paris, France. The corporation was established in 1973 and merged with Synthélabo in 1999 to form Sanofi-Synthélabo. In 200 ...

).AZ Electronic Materials plc: Prospectus
/ref> The name of the company is derived from the

organic compound Some chemical authorities define an organic compound as a chemical compound that contains a carbon–hydrogen or carbon–carbon bond; others consider an organic compound to be any chemical compound that contains carbon. For example, carbon-co ...

diazo In organic chemistry, the diazo group is an organic moiety consisting of two linked nitrogen atoms at the terminal position. Overall charge-neutral organic compounds containing the diazo group bound to a carbon atom are called diazo compounds ...

. In 1997 it was acquired by

Clariant Clariant AG is a Swiss multinational speciality chemical company, formed in 1995 as a spin-off from Novartis#Sandoz, Sandoz. Headquartered in Muttenz, Switzerland, the public company encompasses 68 subsidiaries in 36 countries (2023). Major manu ...

, a Swiss

business and in 2004 it was bought with funds controlled by the

Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group Inc. is an American multinational company with operations in private equity, alternative asset management and financial services. As of 2023, the company had $426 billion of assets under management. Carlyle specializes in ...

Vestar Capital Partners Vestar Capital Partners is an American private equity firm focusing on leveraged buyout transactions in middle-market companies in the United States. The firm, which was founded in 1988, is headquartered in New York City with offices in Boston, Ma ...

took a stake in the company in 2007. In October 2010 it was first listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

. On 2 May 2014,

Merck KGaA The Merck Group, branded and commonly known as Merck, is a German Multinational corporation, multinational science and technology company headquartered in Darmstadt, with about 60,000 employees and a presence in 66 countries. The group include ...

announced the successful acquisition of AZ Electronic Materials.

Operations

The Company produces and sells specialty chemical materials used in the manufacture of

s and

References

{{Authority control Merck Group Chemical companies of the United Kingdom Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange 2014 mergers and acquisitions The Carlyle Group companies