News bulletin – chemical distribution

NEWS BULLETIN

CHEMICAL DISTRIBUTION

MAROON BUYS HOLLAND

Maroon Group has acquired Holland Chemicals, a value-added distributor of specialty chemicals and ingredients to the personal care, household & industrial cleaning, food, and industrial markets. Based in Burr Ridge, Illinois, Holland Chemicals provides a differentiated service offering through its technical sales model, formulary support and development capabilities, and a relentless focus on customer service.

As part of Maroon Group, Holland Chemicals will continue to focus on its core markets while leveraging Maroon’s North American footprint, broad product offering, operational infrastructure, and digital capabilities to better serve customers and suppliers alike.

“This transaction is another example of our commitment to targeted aggressive growth, and we’re thrilled to welcome the Holland Chemicals team to Maroon Group,” says Terry Hill, CEO of Maroon Group. “The business further strengthens our presence in several core end-markets and geographies, and adds depth to our technical and formulary teams.”

“The combination with Maroon Group represents an ideal cultural and strategic fit for our organisation,” adds Jonathon Rhodes, who led Holland’s management team and will continue to manage the business on a day-to-day basis. “We were able to join a team that is passionate about the industry, is focused on sustainability, and recognises the importance of creating value for our customers. We look forward to being able to leverage the growthoriented resources and added stability that Maroon Group provides. We are excited for the opportunity this creates for our employees, customers, and suppliers.”

Maroon has meanwhile appointed Jason Miller as president of its Household, Industrial & Institutional (HI&I) vertical, acquired from Jeff and Barry Tannenbaum in 2018. The move is part of a long-term succession plan, under which Barry Tannenbaum stepped down at the end of June. “We’re grateful for Jeff and Barry’s leadership and support since Maroon Group acquired the business in 2018. They were an integral part of this succession process and we’re excited for them and their families as they begin their next chapter,” says Terry Hill.

Maroon Group has also won a distribution agreement with Applied Graphene Materials (AGM) to introduce its proprietary Genable graphene dispersions technology to the US and Canadian coatings and polymers market.

“I am delighted to announce Maroon Group as a very strong partner to help AGM drive commercial uptake of our graphene products in the North American market,” Adrian Potts, AGM’s CEO, says. “Maroon Group has leading expertise in additive sales and customer service, which is essential to support sales at this early stage of the graphene market’s development.” www.maroongroupllc.com

AZELIS INTO ISRAEL

Azelis has agreed to acquire Orokia Israel Ltd, a speciality chemical distributor active in several market segments in Israel. Formed in 2005, Orokia represents blue-chip principals supplying the agrochemical, animal nutrition, personal care, pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals markets.

“Orokia and its forerunners have been present in the Israeli market for almost four decades, during which time the company has built up a strong market presence, counting major global players among the principals represented and serving more than 200 customers,” says Anna Bertona, CEO/president of Azelis EMEA. “This acquisition will bring an abundance of cross-selling opportunities to expand the business with our existing long-standing and trusted partners. For all these reasons, we are very excited about Orokia joining Azelis.”

“Becoming part of a strong international player such as Azelis will bring considerable added value to our offering in the local market, especially in our core areas of application and formulation support, which are pivotal to success in specialty chemicals,” adds Liliane Halimi, managing director of Orokia. “We will also benefit from Azelis’ strong international infrastructure and access to additional customers and suppliers. In short, we see many growth synergies and we are confident that we are entering a thriving new chapter in the history of our company.” www.azelis.com

MEGAFARMA ADDS DEALS

Megafarma has added further to the contracts it has gained since its acquisition earlier this year by Azelis. The latest win involves the distribution of Celanese’s emulsion polymers in Mexico.

“Celanese and Azelis have a terrific working relationship. We have partnered together for many years in the US and Canada CASE market,” notes Dan Gruber, managing director of new business development, Azelis Americas CASE. “Expanding this relationship to Mexico

is a great opportunity for both of us. The emulsion polymer technology from Celanese is best in class and we look forward to growing the CASE business in Mexico.”

This latest win builds on a contract with BASF Monomers, under which Megafarma is distributing its polyurethane raw materials in Mexico. Explaining the move, Martin Hernandez Gutiérrez, director general of Megafarma, says: “Megafarma has been very successful in life sciences in Mexico and the merger with Azelis earlier this year brought us new opportunities and enabled us to enter new market segments. This new agreement with BASF is the latest example of our commitment to expand into Mexican CASE sector and become a leading distributor with unsurpassed quality, logistics and technical support for our customers and principals.” www.azelis.com/americas

DKSH STAYS SOLID

DKSH has posted figures that it says are “solid half-year results in extraordinary times”. Net sales slipped slightly to SFr 5.34bn ($5.89bn), mostly due to exchange rate movements, with operating profit up 0.5 per cent at SFr 111.3m.

“DKSH generated higher cash flows and maintained its strong balance sheet,” the company states. “In sum, Healthcare, Performance Materials and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods increased profits. Technology as well as Luxury and Lifestyle products were materially impacted by Covid-19. At constant exchange rates, group net sales remained around last year’s level and adjusted EBIT only declined by a single-digit percentage, while free cash flow increased. In addition, DKSH successfully closed two acquisitions and expanded its eCommerce business.”

Stefan P Butz, CEO of DKSH, says: “Our highest priority is to ensure the safety and well-being of our employees and stakeholders as well as ensuring business continuity. The dedication of everyone at DKSH and our ability to remain fully operational despite significant challenges laid the foundation for our solid results. Even in the current volatile markets, our share of daily consumer and healthcare items as well as our leading position in Performance Materials make our business resilient. We remain optimistic about Asia’s long-term outlook.” www.dksh.com

BM FOR BASF

Bodo Möller Chemie has expanded its relationship with BASF South Africa, taking over the sale and distribution of dispersions for architectural coatings in southern Africa and English-speaking countries in West Africa. In Ghana and Nigeria, the collaboration also includes the distribution of BASF resins and additives.

“With the latest collaboration, the Bodo Möller Chemie Group not only solidifies the long-standing trustful partnership with BASF, but also confirms its commitment as one of the leading distributors of specialty chemicals to invest in the African market and thus strengthen its global position in the coatings sector. By developing a Coatings Competence Centre in South Africa, the Bodo Möller Chemie Group will also expand its technical expertise and deliver significant added value to the customer,” the company states. bm-chemie.com