News bulletin – chemical distribution

NEWS BULLETIN

CHEMICAL DISTRIBUTION

MIDDLE EAST EXPANSION FOR AZELIS

Azelis has acquired the Lebanon-based distributor Orkila, which will expand its specialty chemical distribution network in Africa and the Middle East. Orkila, headquartered in Beirut, currently operates offices in 13 countries and has an active presence in more than 30 countries.

Dr Hans Joachim Müller, Azelis CEO and president, says: “We are very excited that Orkila will become a part of Azelis. They are a well-established company, known in Africa and the Middle East for their high-quality expertise and service. We have been impressed by Orkila’s committed management, the similarity of our business models and excellent cultural fit.”

More than 220 Orkila employees will join the Azelis team. To ensure business continuity, Audrey Sacy Aris, Christophe Sacy and other senior managers will continue to run Orkila operations.

Meanwhile, in Turkey, Azelis has acquired Ekin Kimya, the leading Turkish specialty chemicals distributor for pharma chemicals, food ingredients and lab chemicals. Anna Bertona, CEO and president of Azelis EMEA, says: “The pharmaceutical market in Turkey is very attractive from a distributor’s perspective for a number of reasons: local production and consumption of pharmaceutical products have been steadily growing in Turkey and the Turkish government has been heavily investing in pharma industry as it wants the country to become a major pharmaceutical producer, exporter and R&D hub.”

Azelis and Ekin Kimya share a focus on specialty service offerings and technical expertise. In addition to Azelis’ three laboratories in Turkey, Ekin Kimya will bring a modern pharmaceutical lab to the portfolio. www.azelis.com

UNIVAR SOLUTIONS EXPANDS PORTFOLIO

Univar Solutions has been selected to distribute Inovyn’s full line of Cereclor™ chlorinated paraffins in the US. Cereclor is designed for applications in products such as metalworking fluids, PVC enhancers, coatings, sealants and adhesives, single component polyurethane foams and rubber chemicals.

“Univar Solutions is excited to announce this relationship with Inovyn and to offer their market leading Cereclor line to customers in a wide-variety of industries,” says Mark Fisher, president Univar Solutions US. “Adding a robust chlorinated paraffin line to Univar Solutions’ already leading portfolio positions us well to offer our customers the best range of base and specialty chemicals serving end markets such as lubricants and metalworking fluids.”

Additionally, Univar Solutions will distribute Kaopolite® abrasive in polish and cleaning formulations across Europe for the coatings and adhesives and household and industrial cleaning markets. Kaopolite is now entering the hard surface cleaning market after strong success with soft abrasives.

“Univar Solutions currently works with Imerys Kaopolite across various geographies and we are excited to further expand our collaboration to bring more high performing and sustainable offerings to the market,” explains Philippe Seurin, director industrial specialties EMEA at Univar Solutions.

Meanwhile, Univar Solutions has reported third-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $184.2m, up 17.3 per cent year-on-year following the acquisition of Nexeo. Net income fell from $49.6m to $2.5m, reflecting costs relating to the integration of Nexeo as well as tax and financial charges.

“During the quarter, we controlled the controllables, executed well and delivered solid financial results in a challenging, decelerating demand environment,” says David Jukes, president and CEO. “We made substantial progress on the integration of Nexeo, including a successful, seamless first wave systems migration and roll-out of realigned sales territories to our newly consolidated, energised US sales force.”

Univar has also downgraded its full-year EBITDA expectations from $725m-$740m to $700m-$725m in light of the global economic slowdown.

In other news, Univar Solutions has extended its contract to provide waste and environmental services at Boeing South Carolina by ten years. Univar will maintain and improve Boeing’s Zero Waste to Landfill initiative by partnering with small and local businesses to identify and develop unique alternatives for waste.

“This opportunity to continue our strong partnership with Boeing South Carolina means expanding the market-leading world-class waste and recycling programme our teams have built together. We are proud to work with an organisation which is so committed to environmental responsibility and look forward to developing more sustainable solutions that benefit our partners at Boeing, our local South Carolina communities and the environment,” says Ryan Kennebeck, Univar Solutions’ site manager. www.univarsolutions.com

BIESTERFELD AND DUPONT STRENGTHEN TIES

DuPont’s Selar® PA 3426R amorphous polyamide is now being distributed throughout the EMEA region by Biesterfeld. Biesterfeld has been distributing the product in Brazil since June for use in many types of flexible and rigid packaging and in laminated drink and food packaging and expanded coverage at the start of October. “We are delighted to have acquired the new sales rights for Selar,” says Martin Rathke, product manager, Biesterfeld Plastic. “It is a perfect addition to our portfolio which will enable us to offer our customers even better solutions when they come to us for different types of foil or packaging.”

Elsewhere, Biesterfeld and DuPont have expanded their distribution partnership for textile enzymes throughout Europe, Russia, Turkey and North Africa. Biesterfeld has been distributing a natural moisturiser used in the cosmetics industry for DuPont in select European nations since 2016 and has now been granted extended distribution rights to include textile enzymes.

“The enzyme product range is a new addition to the Biesterfeld cleaning portfolio. This is good news for our customers, who will benefit not only from proven, reliable products, but also from sustainable processing techniques and more efficient production operations – increasingly important considerations in this sector,” says Sergej But, market manager cleaning at Biesterfeld Spezialchemie.

“We enjoy an exceptionally successful partnership with Biesterfeld in different market segments,” adds Mike Mossel, EMEA DuPont home and personal care sales leader. “The expansion of our cooperation to encompass textile applications marks another step towards a shared future. We are convinced that in Biesterfeld, we have found the right distributor for our portfolio.” www.biesterfeld.com

BM EXPANDS BUSINESS OFFERINGS

Bodo Möller Chemie has expanded its ongoing business relationship with AFCONA Additives to provide customers with a complete product portfolio for coatings, construction and composites. Having previously only covered Poland and North Africa, the relationship will now also include Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland.

“AFCONA Additives is one of our reliable partners with excellent products in the additive area. For this reason, we look forward to deepening this cooperation in the Nordics markets,” says Jürgen Rietschle, managing director of Bodo Möller Chemie.

The AFCONA product range encompasses defoamers, lubricants and levelling agents, high molecular weight dispersants, conventional wetting and dispersing agents, fatty acid modified emulsifiers and synergistic agents.

Elsewhere, Bodo Möller Chemie has become the sales and distribution partner for Henkel’s Bonderite products in Germany. The addition of Bonderite expands Bodo Möller’s portfolio for solutions in cleaning and surface treatments in metal processing. Bonderite products are suited for cleaning the components of coolants, lubricants and other contaminants that occur during the metalworking process that require removal before painting or other final coatings.

“As a long-standing Henkel partner, we are very pleased about intensifying our current collaboration. With Bonderite, we can now offer our customers outstanding products of a global market leader for optimising their metalworking processes,” says Frank Haug, CEO of Bodo Möller Chemie. bm-chemie.com