Univar, the Redmond-based chemical-distrbution giant, is paying $500 million cash for a Texas specialty-chemicals company, The Seattle Times has learned.

The purchase price also includes an additional $50 million performance payment based on achieving certain unspecified goals over the next two years.

Low-profile Univar had declined to state the transaction terms earlier this week when it announced the deal for Waxahachie, Texas-based Magnablend. Both Univar and Magnablend are substantially owned by a handful of private investment firms.

The Times learned the deal’s terms from an email inadvertently sent by White & Case, the New York law firm that represented Univar.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

When Magnablend’s owners put the company up for sale in September, The Wall Street Journal speculated that the company could fetch as much as $800 million, citing unnamed people familiar with the sale process.

The Journal, citing the same unnamed sources, said Magnablend’s pretax operating earnings, known as EBITDA, were about $70 million in its last fiscal year. That means Univar is paying about 7.8 times EBITDA for the company.

Univar says it had about $9.7 billion in sales last year.

Magnablend supplies custom-blended chemicals to oilfield-services companies, as well as specialty fertilizers and feed supplements to agriculture, and other specialized chemicals to other industries.

The 33-year-old company’s rapid growth in recent years has paralleled that of the oil and gas industry. It’s expanded beyond the Texas oil patch, opening facilities in Pennsylvania, Wyoming and North Dakota.

Drew DeSilver: 206-464-3145 or ddesilver@seattletimes.com