Cognis was a worldwide supplier of specialty chemicals and nutritional ingredients, headquartered in Monheim am Rhein, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

[1] Cognis was an integrated part of Henkel, a German consumer products company, until 2000, when it became an operationally independent business unit.

[2] In November 2001, Cognis was bought by private equity funds Permira, GS Capital Partners and SV Life Sciences.

— which is controlled by Permira Funds, GS Capital Partners and SV Life Sciences — to acquire the specialty chemicals company Cognis for an equity purchase price of €700 million.

Including net financial debt and pension obligations, the enterprise value of the transaction is €3.1 billion.