News bulletin – chemical distribution

NEWS BULLETIN

CHEMICAL DISTRIBUTION

LBB BUYS CCS

LeBaronBrown’s LBB Specialties has acquired a majority interest in Florida-based specialty chemicals and ingredients distributor Custom Chemical Services (CCS), whose president, Chad Hicks, will continue to manage the business. CCS says the transaction will position the company for long-term, continued growth. “The investment brings additional resources and commercial relationships to support the growth of CCS’s principals and customers, building upon the success of our dedicated CCS team. We are excited about our future and the partnership with LBB Specialties, and believe significant opportunities lie ahead,” Hicks says.

Darren J Birkelbach, CEO of LBB Specialties, adds: “We are thrilled by the addition of CCS to the LBB Specialties platform. CCS built its reputation as a strong regional distributor by partnering with high-quality principals and providing excellent service to its loyal customers. We look forward to providing resources and support to build on CCS’s success and fuel ongoing growth as we continue to build LBB Specialties as a leader in the North American specialty chemical and ingredients distribution market.” www.lebaronbrown.com

NOVASOL GROWS IN SPAIN

Novasol Chemicals has acquired Glokem Pro Distribution, formerly known as PCI, a chemical distributor in Spain. The acquisition brings Belgium-based Novasol new expertise, particularly in the construction sector, and reinforces specialty chemicals activities within the group.

“This acquisition provides us with a strong south European base activity and additional logistics and partnership opportunities with 90 per cent of European suppliers,” says Novasol. novasolchemicals.com

BUILDING WITH BRENNTAG

Brenntag has agreed to acquire Alpha Chemical, a full-line chemical distributor based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Alpha generates annual sales of some $12m, serving several key industries including oil and gas, mining, water treatment and acquaculture.

“Alpha Chemical is a well-established business with a stellar reputation for quality and service in the region,” says Anthony Gerace, managing director, mergers and acquisitions at Brenntag. “In addition to providing ready access to the oil and gas offshore upstream market in Atlantic Canada, the state-of-the-art facility in Newfoundland will allow us to better service the other important regional markets as well. As the fourth acquisition in Canada in as many years it reinforces Brenntag’s strong commitment to the Canadian market.”

Lars Schneider, president of Brenntag Canada, adds: “Alpha Chemical’s infrastructure, capabilities and personnel will support the expansion of our new Brenntag Essentials and Brenntag Specialties divisions in Canada. The acquisition will allow Alpha Chemical and Brenntag Canada to provide even stronger value to our customers and supply partners in Atlantic Canada.”

Brenntag has also expanded its management board with the appointment of Ewout van Jarwaade (left) to the new post of chief transformation officer (CTO). In the new role he will be responsible for the execution of the company’s global transformation programme, Project Brenntag, which aims to expand the company’s leading market position and drive sustainable organic earnings growth.

“I am very pleased that with Ewout van Jarwaarde we have been able to recruit a distinguished expert and experienced digital and transformation manager as CTO,” says Doreen Nowotne, chair of the Supervisory Board of Brenntag. “With the now completed five-member Management Board, we have a very strong leadership team, who will consistently execute the company’s transformation in order to achieve sustainable growth for Brenntag.” 37-year-old van Jarwaarde was most recently CEO of CarNext.com, which he helped develop and scale as part of the LeasePlan group. Prior to that, he was a partner at McKinsey & Company with a focus on strategy development, commercial and operational excellence transformations and building digital and data-driven capabilities. www.brenntag.com

IMCD ADDS IN MEXICO

IMCD Mexico has acquired two speciality chemical distributors, Millican and Banner Química, both based in Mexico City. “It has been a very active year for our IMCD Mexico team, and we are pleased to maintain our growth momentum with the acquisitions of Millikan and Banner Química in this important Latin American market,” says Marcus Jordan, Americas president, IMCD. “Both companies perfectly complement our existing operations in Mexico and strengthen our technical and commercial offering in a number of core market segments.”

“Joining IMCD puts our company on the global map and we are delighted to share a mutual desire to offer market differentiation through technical expertise and trend-based solutions for the customers we serve,” says Francisco Camacho, general director of Millikan. Salvador Ramos, his counterpart at Banner, adds: “I anticipate that IMCD’s reputation for professionalism and market proficiency will create new opportunities for innovation and growth for our loyal customers and principal partners.” www.imcdgroup.com

TILLEY TAKES THE MONEY

Baltimore-based ingredients and lubricants distributor Tilley Company has struck a partnership with SK Capital Partners, which has made a controlling investment in Tilley. The move paves the way for growth into new markets through selective acquisitions.

“Tilley is taking this step to satisfy growing demands from its suppliers and customers who want to see us expand our infrastructure and footprint to continue supporting our growth with a high level of service,” says John Tilley, president of the company. Sean Tilley will remain to lead the firm as CEO and the Tilley family will retain a significant stake and involvement.

“We feel privileged to play a part in this ongoing story and to work closely with Tilley’s employees, principals and customers to bring further opportunities for growth and success to fruition,” says Jon Borell, managing director of SK Capital. www.tilleycompany.com

FECC STARTS WITH NEW NAMES

The European Association of Chemical Distributors (Fecc) has had a busy start to the year, with four new members joining the group over the past two weeks. They are the Solevo Group, which distributes speciality and agricultural chemicals in Africa; Impratech, a European specialist in software and business solutions for the distribution and manufacturing sectors; Selerant, a leader in the development of product lifecycle management software and compliance solutions; and Pricefx, a provider of full suite price management and configure-price-quote (CPQ) SaaS solutions.

Fecc represents some 1,600 companies, many of them small family-owned enterprises, with a combined headcount of around 30,000 employees and aggregate annual turnover in the region of €28bn. www.fecc.org

BIESTERFELD REORGANISES PLASTICS

Biesterfeld Plastic has been restructured, with the aim of driving forward its strategic transformation through a focus on consultancy-intensive specialities. Dividing the Engineering Polymers into three independent business units will allow the company to “make even better use of synergies within the business units and hone our segment depth,” says Carsten Harms, member of the executive board of Biesterfeld AG.

“We will also be even more agile in the high-performance plastics market and be able to respond even more effectively to the growing needs of our partners and customers on a global level,” Harms adds.

Dietmar Zinkand, head of the original Engineering Polymers business unit, will continue as head of the new High Performance Polymers and Performance Elastomers units. Meanwhile, Martin Rathke has been appointed as business manager for the new Engineering Polymers unit. Biesterfeld Plastic’s other two business units are Advanced Polymers, headed by business manager Wilhelm Postel, and Sustainable Polymer Solutions. “Sustainable plastic solutions are a key market trend,” says Martin Umbach, managing director of Biesterfeld Plastic and business manager for Sustainable Polymer Solutions. “Together with our innovative principals, we develop application-oriented solutions. Thanks to a comprehensive material portfolio, we are able to work with our customers to create sustainable and recyclable end products.”

“Through this anticyclical investment in business and product management and our technically specialised sales operations, we are opening up additional growth potential for our entire organisation on a national and international level. Meanwhile, we are preparing for further successful geographical expansion into strategically important growth markets and also boosting personal support for our long-term partners worldwide,” says Harms. www.biesterfeld.com