Producer
Arxada AG (formerly Lonza Wood Protection)
Swiss specialty chemicals company (HQ Basel; private equity portfolio — Bain Capital and Cinven, spun off from Lonza Group in 2021); Arxada's Wood Protection division produces ACQ (Alkaline Copper Quaternary), CDDC-CA (Copper Azole), and other copper-based wood preservative formulations under the Preserve brand. Arxada (formerly Lonza Wood Protection, which itself was formerly Chemical Specialties Inc. / CSI — the North Carolina company that invented ACQ as the CCA replacement) owns the intellectual property on ACQ formulations. The 2004 transition from CCA to ACQ-type preservatives was driven largely by CSI/Lonza's ACQ chemistry — a transition that simultaneously eliminated arsenic from residential pressure-treated lumber supply chains and dramatically increased copper consumption per treated board foot (ACQ requires approximately 5x more copper per treatment than CCA did). Arxada's wood protection IP now sits inside a private equity portfolio after three ownership changes in 15 years.
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Wood Protection
35%Microbial Control Solutions
45%Specialty Antimicrobials & Life Sciences
20%
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Did you know2024
Arxada AG's largest revenue segment is not wood protection but Microbial Control Solutions — quaternary ammonium compound (quat) biocides used in hospital disinfection, food safety sanitation, industrial water treatment, and HVAC systems. The core chemistry of ACQ wood preservative (alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride, ADBAC — a quat) and the core chemistry of Arxada's hospital disinfectants are the same class of compounds. A Luxfer hospital in Texas killing MRSA on surgical surfaces with Arxada quat disinfectant and a homeowner in Texas with Arxada-treated ACQ pressure-treated decking both depend on the same biocidal quaternary ammonium chemistry from the same Basel-registered private equity portfolio company. Arxada is simultaneously a residential construction supply chain company (ACQ wood preservative) and a healthcare infection prevention company (hospital disinfectants) — connected by shared chemistry but in entirely separate markets and supply chain contexts.
Arxada AG ↗Concentration2021
Chemical Specialties Inc. (CSI) — a North Carolina company — developed ACQ (Alkaline Copper Quaternary) preservative in the late 1990s as the replacement for CCA. CSI received EPA approval for ACQ formulations in 2000, positioning it perfectly for the 2004 CCA phase-out. CSI was acquired by Lonza Group (Switzerland) in 2009; the wood protection division was carved out and rebranded through multiple PE ownerships to become Arxada. The trajectory: North Carolina startup inventor of a regulatory-mandated chemical replacement → Swiss multinational acquisition → private equity carve-out. Arxada's ACQ IP is now inside a Bain Capital / Cinven portfolio alongside pharmaceutical excipients and antimicrobial ingredients — a PE firm that also owns infection prevention technologies at hospitals owns the IP on the arsenic-replacing chemical in every pressure-treated deck in America.
Chemical & Engineering News (American Chemical Society) ↗Origin2023
Arxada AG (formerly Lonza Wood Protection) inherits its wood protection IP from Chemical Specialties Inc. (CSI) of Burlington, North Carolina — a specialty chemicals startup that developed ACQ formulations in the late 1990s. CSI was acquired by Lonza Group in 2009 for the ACQ/wood protection portfolio; Lonza subsequently merged its wood protection and microbial control divisions, then carved out the combined entity to Bain Capital and Cinven as Arxada in 2021. The origin of Arxada's wood protection business thus traces directly to a North Carolina startup that identified an EPA regulatory mandate (CCA phase-out) as a business opportunity and developed the replacement chemistry before the transition — then sold that regulatory-created IP position to a Swiss multinational, which sold it to private equity. The ACQ IP now generates royalties on every piece of pressure-treated lumber sold in the US residential market.
Arxada AG ↗