6 minute read
News bulletin – chemical distribution
NEWS BULLETIN
CHEMICAL DISTRIBUTION
IMCD BIGGER IN BRAZIL
Ashland has appointed IMCD Brasil to distribute its full line of personal care and home care products in selected states in Brazil. “The addition of Ashland’s world-class ingredients to IMCD Brasil’s personal care and home care portfolios is an important win for our technical sales team,” says Nicolas Kaufmann, managing director of IMCD Brasil. “The availability of Ashland’s robust product line will support our customers and IMCD’s application specialists to develop in our laboratories new formulations that favour the creation of innovative products for the Brazilian market.”
“We are excited to extend our successful relationship in other regions of the world with IMCD to Brazil,” says Alessandro Moraes, Ashland’s general director for Latin America. “We are confident that IMCD’s team of technical and market experts in the personal care and home care industries will add to Ashland’s structure, help expand business and further develop customer relationships. The entire national territory will be covered by IMCD Brasil, with the exception of the South region (Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul) where Ashland already has a distributor.”
In Finland, IMCD has acquired Oy KokkoFiber AB, a leading supplier of fibre-reinforced plastic composite materials. “IMCD Finland was established 25 years ago and since then we have strived to offer our customers best-in-class solutions,” says Sami Valkama, managing director of IMCD Finland. “We recognise the importance of the composite business in the Nordic region. With this acquisition, IMCD will not only expand and strengthen its relationship with other suppliers in the composites market, but it will be in an excellent position to offer its synergistic product portfolio to new customers.”
In corporate news, IMCD has opened a new US headquarters facility in Westlake, Ohio (below), designed to accommodate current and future business growth and to complement its global digitisation initiatives to better serve its markets across the US.
Thomas Van Valkenburgh, president of IMCD US, says the new site was created “to enable employees in their quest to drive excellence as we serve both our principals and customer partners. This is not just a new office space, but a modern work environment carefully designed to inspire collaboration, galvanise partnerships and encourage entrepreneurship.” www.imcdgroup.com
3M GETS INTO CANADA WITH PH
Cleveland, Ohio-based Palmer Holland and 3M have expanded their long-term agreement, which will now include distribution of 3M Advanced Materials’ portfolio in Canada. “3M has been one of our premiere principals for over 30 years, and this expansion further solidifies the mutual dedication between our organisations to growing together,” says Tony Denton, Palmer Holland’s business director. “We are very excited to share our expertise throughout Canada.” www.palmerholland.com
TELKO GROWS LUBES BUSINESS
Telko has acquired ILS Nordic and its subsidiary Autolubes Nordic, strengthening its position in the Nordic lubes market. ILS Nordic is a strategic distribution partner of BP Castrol in Sweden and Norway; Telko has been BP Castrol’s distributor in Finland since 1958.
“The acquisition accelerates Telko’s strategic change. Telko has consistently freed up working capital from low-margin and slow-moving businesses and focused them on more profitable and more capital-efficient businesses,” says Aki Ojanen, CEO of Aspo Group, Telko’s parent company.
Mikko Pasanen, managing director of Telko, adds: “Over the past five years, Telko has been actively growing its lubricants business in the Nordic countries. The [ILS] acquisition brings strong synergies and is a significant step in the growth of Telko’s business and emergence as a leading player in the Nordic lubricants market.”
The acquisition will increase Telko’s net sales in 2021 by approximately €10m and will improve Telko’s relative profitability, the company says. The lubricants business will now be reported separately, alongside the two existing divisions of plastics and industrial chemicals. www.telko.com www.ilsnordic.se
BIESTERFELD BROADENS DYMAX DEAL
Biesterfeld is expanding its distribution partnership with US manufacturer Dymax, adding Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria to the list of European countries where it supplies Dymax’s light-curing adhesives, casting compounds and conformal coatings, used mainly in medical technology, industry and electronics. Biesterfeld has been distributing the range in Germany, the Baltic states and much of central Europe since 2018.
Robert Ignatzek, head of sales EMEA at Dymax, says: “The partnership with Biesterfeld has been ambitious from the start, so we are very excited about expanding our collaboration in other European regions. With their considerable experience in the electronics industry, the experts at Biesterfeld guarantee comprehensive customer service and excellent logistics handling.”
“With the outstanding properties of the industrial adhesives and the high-performance light-curing technology, we can offer our customers tailor-made products and solutions that deliver production and competitive benefits,” adds Dr Anna Geffken, product manager at Biesterfeld Spezialchemie. www.biesterfeld.com
AXIEO NOW DKSH
DKSH has successfully completed the integration of Axieo in Australia and New Zealand, part of its strategy to expand the market position of its performance materials business unit in the Asia-Pacific region. The deal includes two innovation centres operates in collaboration with Monash University in Melbourne.
“DKSH is delighted to integrate Axieo into its global team,” says Ben Hopkins, senior director of DKSH Performance Materials, Australia & New Zealand. “Axieo is brimming with talent and innovative products. Our six offices give us true reach across Australia and New Zealand. The integration marks an exciting development for our new and existing customers, as we enrich the region with additional market insights, value-added services and our broad network. We see opportunities across many market segments. Our global resources and focus will really boost our bandwidth in both markets. The Axieo business profile creates insights and opportunities for DKSH that we can leverage for our global network.”
Founded in 1950, Axieo has sold, marketed and distributed specialty chemicals and ingredients to nearly 3,000 customers. The ingredients are applied across the personal care, pharmaceutical as well as food and beverage industries. The specialty chemicals are used in multiple industrial applications, such as coatings, plastics and agriculture. www.dksh.com
AZELIS TURKEY OPENS NEW LAB
Azelis has opened a new application and training centre in Istanbul, Turkey. The facility will service the Turkish food, personal care and pharma markets and will offer product advice, formulation development and technical research. In addition, it will be used to host customer meetings, interactive formulation workshops, supplier meetings and internal technical trainings.
The new centre follows on from the acquisition in December 2019 by Azelis of Ekin Kimya, a leading supplier of high-quality chemicals to pharmaceutical, food, cosmetics, laboratory sectors in Turkey and surrounding countries.
“With our highly qualified staff in this application and technical centre, we will be able to further strengthen the technical support given to Azelis Turkey’s and Ekin Kimya’s Food & Health, Personal Care and Pharma customers at a local and international level, starting from concept to applied products to formulation creation,” says Sertaç Sürür, managing director of Azelis Turkey (pictured above at the new centre).
The new centre is one of more than 60 application labs across the global Azelis network; each is dedicated to a specific industry and to serving the local market. www.azelis.com
