High Divide Minerals announced that Vanderbilt Minerals has joined an industrial minerals platform backed by Riverspan Partners, expanding the platform’s portfolio of specialty mineral products and strengthening its capabilities across industrial, agricultural, and life sciences markets.
Under the arrangement, High Divide Minerals and Vanderbilt Minerals will operate as affiliates while continuing to function independently and maintain their existing customer relationships. The companies said the combination will broaden the range of industrial mineral products and expertise available across the platform.
Headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, Vanderbilt Minerals is a vertically integrated manufacturer of specialty mineral products with operations across multiple U.S. states and customers around the world. Its product portfolio includes smectite clays used as rheology modifiers and emulsion stabilizers in pharmaceutical, personal care, and agricultural applications. The company also supplies performance fillers and additives used in ceramics, coatings, construction materials, and plastics.
Riverspan Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm focused on industrial businesses, plans to support Vanderbilt Minerals with additional capital investments aimed at reserve development and product innovation. The company will also benefit from the operational, financial, and strategic expertise of High Divide Minerals’ leadership team.
High Divide Minerals, which has been owned by Riverspan since April 2024, manufactures industrial talc products from operations in Montana and Texas. The company serves customers in end markets including polymers, technical ceramics, and paints and coatings.
Together, the two businesses will create a broader industrial minerals platform serving a diverse range of end markets. The companies said the expanded platform combines complementary product offerings and decades of customer relationships, positioning both businesses for continued growth.
Greenhill & Co. served as financial advisor to Vanderbilt Minerals, while Latham & Watkins acted as legal advisor. Piper Sandler served as financial advisor to High Divide Minerals and Riverspan Partners, with Milbank and Kirkland & Ellis providing legal counsel.
KEY QUOTES:
“Vanderbilt Minerals is a differentiated specialty minerals business with a distinctive reserve base, deep operating capabilities, and decades-long customer relationships across diversified end markets. The products sold by Vanderbilt Minerals are highly complementary to those we sell at High Divide Minerals, so we are excited about the expanded portfolio of industrial minerals that our platform can now offer to each of our customer bases. We look forward to leveraging the combined expertise of the High Divide and Vanderbilt Minerals teams to strengthen both companies and to better serve our customers, employees, and the communities in which we operate.”
Al Gwizdala, CEO of the Platform
