My guest on the show today is Ben Gliklich, the CEO of Element Solutions (Ticker: ESI), a 5.5 billion dollar market cap specialty chemicals company. Element Solutions was formerly known as Platform Specialty Chemicals and was founded by Martin Franklin of Jarden fame—with the help of Bill Ackman from Pershing Square. The company was designed to be a roll-up but, after some initial success, it was derailed by an over-levered balance sheet. Ben became CEO in 2019 and since then has overseen a process by which Element has reduced business complexity, fixed its balance sheet, and has proven out its claims regarding its resilient margin structure.
Given that the company provides products that facilitate the fabrication of semiconductors, Element has a front row seat when it comes to all of the issues regarding the global chip shortage. Accordingly, I thought it would be a great time to talk to Ben about:
- His path to becoming CEO and what he has learned about leadership along the way;
- How the company is navigating all of the customer disruption tied to chip shortage;
- The megatrends that are poised to propel the business over the next decade;
- How the company is approaching M&A and leverage after the initial stumbles at Platform Specialty; and
- From where Element Solutions derives it moat and pricing power
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