NEW YORK, Feb. 28 -- Saratoga Partners, the New York-based private-equity investment firm, reported today that its sale of Sericol, a leading producer of specialty printing inks, to Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd, of Japan had been completed. The transaction was valued at approximately $230 million. Sericol had acquired the company from Burmah Castrol plc, a BP subsidiary, in February 2003. Sericol is a world leader in the production and sale of premium inks and other consumable products for screen, narrow web and digital printing. It had revenues of approximately $260 million in 2004, producing a compound growth rate in double digits during each of the two years Saratoga owned the company. Sericol's current management group, including Chief Executive Ed Carhart, will remain in place, Saratoga said. The company's principal manufacturing plants are in Kansas City, Missouri, and in Broadstairs, England. It also has facilities in Australia, India, China and Brazil. Its products are sold in more than 80 countries, and it has more than 1,200 employees worldwide. Sericol was owned by Saratoga Partners IV, L.P., Saratoga's fourth investment fund, which closed in 1999 with $250 million in commitments, and was the second company sold by this fund. In May 2003, it sold Datavantage, a leading provider of point-of-sale systems to specialty retailers, in a transaction that resulted in a fourfold return on its investment. With the proceeds of the Sericol transaction, the fund will have returned more than 50 percent of its invested capital to its investors. Saratoga Partners was founded in 1984 as a division of the New York investment firm Dillon, Read & Co., Inc., and since then has invested in 33 companies with an aggregate value of more than $3.7 billion. Saratoga has been independent since 1998. Saratoga's current portfolio companies include Koppers, a leading producer of carbon compounds and treated wood products for the railroad and other industries; Advanced Lighting Technologies, a leading manufacturer of metal halide lighting systems, and Emeritus, a nationwide operator of assisted living facilities for seniors. Saratoga, a middle-market private-equity firm, invests in businesses with strong management teams and leading market positions with valuations of between $50 million and $500 million. It specializes in partnering with management to acquire companies with strong market positions in specialized manufacturing and business service industries.