Avantor® was formed in August 2010 when New Mountain Capital purchased it from Covidien Inc.; however, the company has been in existence for more than 110 years.
John Townsend Baker
The company now known as Avantor was founded in 1904 by John Townsend (J.T.) Baker.
J.T. Baker was studying chemistry at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, when he realized that the laboratory chemicals he was using in class were not sufficiently pure to facilitate accurate results. He decided to take matters into his own hands. In 1904, he founded the J.T. Baker Chemical Company along the Delaware River near the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
The mission of the J.T. Baker Chemical Company was to produce chemicals of the "highest degree of purity commercially available."
Global Evolution
When it was founded in 1904, the J.T. Baker Chemical Company employed 20 individuals in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. Today, Avantor has operations throughout the world and is the global supplier of ultra-high-purity materials for the life sciences and advanced technology markets.
While the company has grown its manufacturing capabilities, product portfolio and global reach, our goal of providing high-quality materials to our customers around the world has not changed.
Company Milestones
1904 – J.T.Baker Chemical Company founded
1911 – J.T.Baker Co. begins publishing The Chemist-Analyst trade journal, used internally and by outside
1940s – Wartime production of penicillin, pesticides, batteries and x-rays produced at J.T. Baker
1949 – Introduction of J.T.Baker® brand ULTREX™ reagents with parts-per-billion impurity levels; $10 million expansion of Phillipsburg
1974 – First spill kits introduced
1976 – New high-purity solvents product line by J.T.Baker Co. launched
1983 – J.T.Baker® brand BAKERBOND™ Wide Pore chromatography columns launched
1985 – Semiconductor industry's first photoresist stripper recovery/recycling program begun
1991 – Revolutionary J.T.Baker® brand ULTRAPURE BIOREAGENT™ products for cutting-edge biopharmaceutical process launched
1994 – Innovative J.T.Baker® brand CYCLE-TAINER™ solvent delivery system launched
1995 – Mallinckrodt acquires J.T.Baker and forms Mallinckrodt
2000 – Tyco International acquires Mallinckrodt Baker
2004 – Flowmor™ packaging introduced
2005 – Ranbaxy Fine Chemicals Limited acquired by ICICI Venture Fund, renamed RFCL Limited
2005 – J.T.Baker® brand solid phase extraction hydrophilic polymers and columns launched
2006 – cGMP biobuffers introduced
2007 – Tyco Healthcare (parent of Mallinckrodt Baker) becomes Covidien
2007 – RFCL acquires Wipro Biomed
2008 – RFCL acquires Alved Pharma and Foods, Bremer Pharma GmbH
2008 – cGMP parenteral benzyl alcohol launched
2009 – High-purity J.T.Baker® brand LC/MS solvents introduced
2010 – Mallinckrodt Baker acquired from Covidien by an affiliate of New Mountain Capital
2010 – Mallinckrodt Baker becomes Avantor Performance Materials
2010 – RFCL enters technology transfer agreement on hematology reagents with Diagon of Hungary
2011 – J.T.Baker® brand PanExcea™ multifunctional excipients launched
2011 – Avantor completes acquisitions of RFCL Limited of India and POCH S.A. of Poland; RFCL Limited renamed Avantor Performance Materials India Limited and POCH S.A., renamed Avantor Performance Materials Poland S.A.
2016 – Avantor completes acquisition of NuSil Technology, LLC
2017 – Avantor completes acquisitions of Puritan Products, Inc. and VWR International, Inc.
2018 – Avantor launches new corporate brand identity