Pentagon was originally founded in 1975 on the site of an old brick works in Workington. Having quickly established itself as a manufacturer of benzoate esters for use in the paint and food industries the company diversified over the course of the next 25 years adding new chemistries and entering the oil, fuel and pharmaceutical markets.

Expansion during this time was facilitated by the owners of the company – a number of large multi national organisations. However in 2002 the opportunity to create a small, flexible company focused primarily on the needs of its customers was identified and Pentagon Chemicals Ltd was formed through an MBO led by CEO Allan Laing and members of its senior management team.

A strategy of building the company through a combination of strong organic growth allied to selective acquisition of businesses offering complementary technologies to the existing toolbox led to the purchase of Great Lakes Fine Chemicals operations at Halebank in December 2003. The addition of the new site brought not only additional chemistries to the group but a long tradition of successful new product innovation in the pharmaceutical, agrochemical, petrochemical and photographic industries.