News bulletin – chemical distribution

NEWS BULLETIN

CHEMICAL DISTRIBUTION

NAGASE COMBINES IN SPECIALTIES

Nagase America is to integrate its NY Division and subsidiary Fitz Chem, which it acquired in 2017, into a new company, Nagase Specialty Materials NA (NSM), as from 1 September. The integration is intended to strengthen Nagase’s position in North America through demonstrated leadership in the provision of specialty materials and solutions, continued excellence in distribution, and a strengthened focus on business development.

The new company will be headquartered in Itasca, Illinois and will be headed by Takuya Tonomura as CEO with Mark Miller as president/CEO and Laura Mack as CFO. “Joining these two established Nagase organisations represents an exciting combination of mission, talent and infrastructure that will result in greater efficiencies and technology access for our customers,” says Tonomura.

Mark Miller adds: “I’m excited to lead our NSM organisation in North America, which provides a unique value proposition to its customers, suppliers and business partners as a hybrid. This new business structure will offer continued representation of the finest chemical and material suppliers combined with access to our complementary manufactured Nagase technologies in our markets, all within the context of NA geographic expansion.”

The news came soon after Fitz Chem was appointed by Stahl Polymers to distribute its aziridine and carbodiimide crosslinkers across the US. “We believe in working together with partners like Fitz Chem who know the local markets and share our values and knowledge of polymers,” says Raymond Bakker, global business director at Stahl Polymers. “With their many years of relevant experience, we know that they will be able to convert the increasing demand of aziridines and to an even higher extent carbodiimide crosslinkers in the US.” nagaseamerica.com

AZELIS STRENGTHENS IN MEXICO, SCANDINAVIA

Azelis subsidiary Megafarma, which it acquired earlier this year, has recently won two significant distribution deals, expanding the group’s presence in Mexico. It is now responsible for distributing BASF Monomers’ polyurethane raw materials and Invista’s Dytek® speciality amine portfolio.

“We have a longstanding relationship with BASF,” says Dan Gruber, managing director for new business development at Azelis Americas CASE. “In the US and Canada we have demonstrated organic growth via our dedicated and technically trained sales force, and our application labs have been instrumental in our joint success. We are very excited about this expansion into the Mexican market as it allows us to deliver the same value and growth that we have provided BASF Polyurethanes in the US and Canada.”

Speaking about the Invista deal, Martin Hernandez Gutiérrez, director general of Megafarma, says: “Now that we are part of the Azelis family, this agreement is an example of our commitment to expand into the CASE sector and become a leading distributor with unsurpassed quality, logistics and technical support for our customers and principals.”

Azelis, meanwhile, has also signed a new distribution agreement with Stepan to cover its surfactants in Scandinavia, expanding on an existing deal in other European countries. “Azelis has proven to be an excellent partner to us over the past few years,” says Philippe Nastasi, European sales director for Stepan Company. “Their market presence, customer intimacy and technical knowledge are exactly what we were looking for, and the innovative work they have done in their technical development labs will bring extra value to our local customer base. We’re very much looking forward to this new collaboration in Scandinavia.” www.azelis.com

BIG WINS FOR BM

Bodo Möller Chemie has extended its relationship with Songwon Industrial to distribute its comprehensive range of

polymer stabilisers. It has been supplying customers in the Benelux countries since the start of this year and has now added responsibility for the UK and Ireland through Bodo Möller Chemie UK.

“Our partnership with Bodo Möller Chemie in other European countries being excellent, we are convinced that this step will enable us to further expand Songwon’s market position in Europe,” says Franky Cuypers, the company’s global sales leader, polymer stabilisers.

Bodo Möller has also been authorised to distribute Henkel’s specialised adhesives and related products for the aerospace industry. “The aviation industry, like the automotive sector, needs a lot of know-how so it can maintain the speed of innovation,” says Frank Haug, CEO of Bodo Möller. “Here, our global sales and distribution network, our expertise for specialty chemicals and their application fields as well as the products made by Henkel are a perfect fit. This allows us to build a strong and long-term partnership with Henkel in this business division as well.” bm-chemie.com

BIESTERFELD DOUBLES UP

Korean speciality chemicals manufacturer Songwon has picked Biesterfeld Spezialchemie to distribute its polymer stabiliser range in France, extending their strategic partnership. “We constantly strive to improve our product availability and customer service. The partnership with Biesterfeld France is strengthening our distribution network, and is an important step towards achieving our goal of delivering solutions that exceed the expectations of our French customers,” says Albert Dantuma, regional sales leader, polymer stabilisers, at Songwon.

Biesterfeld has also extended its partnership with Solvay Special Chem to cover the distribution of drummed organic fluorinated intermediates in Germany, France, Switzerland and Austria. “These CF3 building blocks are an ideal addition to our existing and extensive fine chemicals portfolio,” says Dr Fritjof Weidner, market manager for advanced intermediates at Biesterfeld Spezialchemie. www.biesterfeld.com

ALL CHANGE AT BRENNTAG

Shareholders in Brenntag AG overwhelmingly agreed to convert it to the Societas Europaea (SE) legal form at their meeting last month. Brenntag sees the SE legal form as fitting best with its modern corporate culture, reflecting its global outlook. The change will take place in the second half of this year.

At the same time, Brenntag appointed Doreen Nowotne (below) as chair of its supervisory board following the resignation of Stefan Zuschke, who held the post for ten years. Zuschke says: “I would like to congratulate Doreen Nowotne on her election. Particularly under the current challenging circumstances, the company has demonstrated its solid position and fundamental strength. ‘Project Brenntag’, which was initiated by our new CEO Christian Kohlpaintner, also points in the right direction. This is a good time to pass on responsibility to a new Supervisory Board Chairperson.” www.brenntag.com

HELM GOES SOFTER

Helm Group has reported 2019 revenues of €5.0bn, down 2 per cent on the 2018 figure of €5.1bn. The positive outlook at the start of the year was dampened by a sharp drop in chemical prices in the first quarter, followed by a number of plant outages and the effects of the escalating trade war between the US and China. Its crop protection business also suffered as a result of extreme weather phenomena in the US and Brazil. Overall, the group reported a net loss before taxes of €66.0m, compared to a profit of €95.5m in 2018.

Helm has meanwhile signed a long-term deal to distribute Tronox’s titanium dioxide products in Germany. “We are pleased to have a reliable titanium dioxide supplier with Tronox for long-term collaboration and to take over the distribution in Germany,” says Christian Witt, global product manager for titanium dioxide at Helm. “The broad product portfolio offers many growth opportunities for our partnership. With its global production sites and the extraction of raw materials in own mines, we see Tronox well prepared for the future.” www.helmag.com