Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross said Monday he would support Donald Trump if he becomes the Republican Party’s nominee for president, saying the front-runner in the race will become more presidential if he wins the nomination.
"I also think you're going to see a different Donald if and when he becomes the nominee," Ross told CNBC.
"I believe in the two-party system," he told CNBC. "And I think if you believe in [the] two-party system, you should vote for the nominee," said Ross, who previously supported former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Ross said he is sufficiently at ease with current market conditions to put money to work, CNBC reported.
"We feel comfortable enough that we're doing a very large transaction, so I think that speaks for itself," he said.
Meanwhile, Ross' WL Ross Holdings Corp. said on Monday it would buy chemicals and plastics distributor Nexeo Solutions Holdings LLC from private equity firm TPG in a deal valued at $1.67 billion, Reuters reported.
TPG, which purchased Nexeo for nearly $1 billion from U.S. specialty-chemicals producer Ashland Inc in 2011, will retain about 35 percent stake in the company and will continue to have representation on the board.
Texas-based Nexeo supplies raw materials used in a number of industries including chemical manufacturing, oil and gas and healthcare.
WL Ross — a blank-check company formed by Wilbur Ross for acquisitions — will be renamed Nexeo Solutions Inc. when the deal closes, expected in the second quarter.
Nexeo is "an ideal platform to further roll up the fragmented chemicals and plastics distribution space," Wilbur Ross said in a statement.
There have been a spate of deals in the North American chemical industry in the past few years, topped by the $130-billion merger between chemical titans DuPont and Dow Chemical Co.
The Nexeo deal consists of $1.3 billion in cash and debt, and up to 35 million shares of WL Ross common stock.
WL Ross said it had secured debt facilities to fund the cash portion.
The company, which will be led by Nexeo Chief Executive David Bradley, said it would apply to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbols NXEO, NXEOU, and NXEOW.
Wilbur Ross will serve as chairman.
Nexeo has more than 2,400 employees in North America, Europe and Asia and generated nearly $4 billion in annual sales in its fiscal year ended September 2015.
Lazard, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc, Credit Suisse and Bank of America Merrill Lynch advised WL Ross. Jefferies LLC was Nexeo's financial adviser.
Ross’ WL Ross has invested $11.6 billion in distressed companies since its founding in 2000. The firm is a subsidiary of Invesco Ltd.
(Newsmax wire services contributed to this report).
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