An industrial investor has acquired the Cheshire operations of a 100-year-old US group as it builds its presence in the chemicals sector.

GIL Investments has taken over the Widnes facility of the Shepherd Chemical Co, an Ohio-based group founded in 1916. Shepherd Widnes is a specialist manufacturer of cobalt-based salts and compounds used in a range of industries.

The deal marks the 11th business GIL has acquired from large corporate entities since 2002.

Trevor Middleton, investment director at GIL, said: “This transaction is very much a traditional GIL deal, being a corporate divestment of a UK chemicals business. We very much look forward to working with the local management, including Gary Jones and Paul Croft, to take the business forward under new ownership”