OPTA Birmingham Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Amherst, New York – August 18, 2025 – Opta Group LP, a portfolio company of Speyside Equity Advisors (“Speyside”) and a leading supplier of performance materials and solutions in the molten metal, infrastructure, and specialty chemical industries, is proud to announce the grand opening of its all-new OPTA Birmingham facility.

A ribbon cutting ceremony will be held on September 4, 2025, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., welcoming employees, suppliers, customers, local officials, and community members to celebrate this significant milestone.

Located in Alabama’s industrial corridor, the OPTA Birmingham facility represents the company’s expanding presence in the southern United States. This strategic expansion was designed to meet the needs of the region’s rapidly growing steelmaking industry.

Equipped with advanced refining processes, including drying, briquetting, and an on-site laboratory, the plant will supply high-quality Calcium Aluminate and other custom engineered metallurgical fluxes to steel producers across the southeast.

“We listened to our customers. They asked for a facility in the region, and we made it happen,” said Andre Giglio, President, Molten Solutions North America. “I’m incredibly proud of the hard work and efficiency of our team who successfully completed this significant greenfield project in less than a year.”

The new facility is rapidly upgrading its capabilities, with plans to add shifts and production lines as demand for metallurgical additives continues to rise.

“With more than 40% of U.S. steel production located in the southern region, it was an easy decision for us to establish a beachhead of operations within the heart of the EAF river belt,” stated Mike Ball, Chief Operating Officer, Opta Group. “This new facility will allow us to more efficiently deliver our solutions and technical support to those customers.”

Beyond meeting industrial needs, OPTA Birmingham will contribute to local economic growth, bringing new job opportunities and fostering partnerships with area suppliers and service providers.

About Opta Group

Opta Group LP, a Speyside Equity portfolio company, is a global provider of custom engineered solutions serving the metallurgical, construction, and specialty chemical industries. The company’s broad range of brands includes OPTA, Tecnosulfur, Affival, Affimex, SKW, OPTA Glass, Carbide Industries and Quab Chemicals. Through deep expertise in blending, formulation, and process optimization Opta Group delivers measurable value to customers worldwide.

With headquarters in Amherst, NY, Opta Group employs over 900 people operating from a total of 34 manufacturing facilities and regional offices across 11 countries in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.

To learn more visit optagroupllc.com..

About Speyside

Speyside is a Detroit-based private equity firm. The firm invests in middle-market, buyout transactions in the manufacturing and value-added distribution sectors. Targeted portfolio companies often possess balance sheet, legal, environmental, labor, or transactional complexity.

Speyside Equity focuses on creative transaction structures and is comfortable investing in carveouts of large multinational companies, industry consolidations, family-owned businesses, bankruptcies, workouts, and other special situations. Speyside takes an operational approach to creating value in these situations. Speyside has completed 37 investments.

For more information, please visit speysideequity.com..