Farrow & Ballis a British manufacturer of paints and wallpapers largely based upon historic colour palettes and archives. The company is particularly well known for the unusual names of its products.
The company was started by John Farrow and Richard Maurice Ball in 1946 in Wimborne Minster, Dorset. Both Farrow and Ball had previously been chemists. The company was the first manufacturer to switch to the production of 100 per cent water-based paints in 2010.
In 2006, American Capital subsidiary European Capital Limited purchased Farrow & Ball for approximately £80 million by way of a management buyout. Until its sale to European Capital Limited, Farrow & Ball remained a family business.
In 2014, Ares Management bought Farrow & Ball from European Capital Limited for £275 million. In October 2020, Bloomberg reported that Ares Management was considering a potential sale of Farrow & Ball. In May 2021, the Financial Times reported that Danish coatings manufacturer Hempel had agreed to purchase Farrow & Ball from Ares Management for approximately £500 million. The sale was expected to complete in the second half of 2021. On 26 August 2021, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) completed the phase one investigation it launched on 9 July 2021 and cleared the merger. Following clearance by the CMA, the sale of Farrow & Ball by Ares Management to Hempel completed on 3 September 2021.
