The company was established as a supplier of materials which facilitate electrical connectivity. It remained under the ownership of Alpha Inc until that group was acquired by
Cookson Group in 1984. The business was demerged when Cookson Group split into two businesses (Alent and
Vesuvius plc) in December 2012. On 13 July 2015, it was announced that Platform Specialty Products would acquire Alent in a $2.1 billion deal. Following the acquisition the Enthone business (in addition to recently acquired businesses from OM Group, Inc.) will be merged with MacDermid to create a new market leader, while the Alpha division will remain as a standalone business for the foreseeable future. The transaction was completed in November 2015. ==Operations==