SK Capital bolsters operational team

SK Capital Partners has strengthened its team with the hire of two investment directors.

Harri Kerminen and Mike Humphrey have joined the firm as directors, according to a statement. As former chief executives of global specialty chemicals companies, they created “significant shareholder value by successfully repositioning and improving their respective companies into top performers”, the firm said.

They will support SK Capital with value creation in portfolio companies as well as further expand the firm’s network in the industry.

Kerminen spent 26 years in various operating roles at Kemira Oyj , where he was chief executive for the five year period prior to his retirement in 2012.

Humphrey spent more than 40 years in sales, marketing and business management positions at Croda International, where he became chief executive officer in 1999 until his retirement in 2011. Humphrey had already worked in an advisory capacity for SK Capital since 2013.

The hires come a few months after SK Capital closed its fourth fund on $1 billion after spending just five months on the fundraising trail. The fund is double the size of the firm’s previous vehicle which closed on $500 million in 2011.

SK Capital Partners focuses on the specialty materials, chemicals and healthcare sectors in the US. The firm’s portfolio companies generate revenues of more than $8 billion annually and employ approximately 9,000 people.