ETHANE EXPORTS ASIA BD OUTLOOK EUROPE LDPE ENTERPRISE Butadiene buoyed by Prices could erode into STARTS UP NEW tightness but gains could August but rebound in FACILITY IN TEXAS be capped by weak September, as imports PRICE TRENDS P12 buying sentiment 13 are diverted to Asia 119 25-31 July 2016 Chemical Business MAKING SENSE OF CHEmICAL PRICES SPECIAL REPORT TOP 100 CHEMICAL DISTRIBUTORS Azelis confirms plans for IPO The Europe-headquartered distributor has absorbed the recent KODA acquisition and is preparing to go public as early as 2017-2019, once the market and its owners are ready WILL BEACHAM BARCELONA ly. For annual budgets, national operating most of its population is comparatively units make a proposition in line with compa- young. istributor Azelis may go through an ny strategy during the summer and the third In August 2016 Laurent Nataf, Europe chief initial public offering (IPO) and quarter and are finalised by early October. operating officer, will transfer to become CEO stock market floatation as early as of Asia to ensure enough attention is given to 2017-19, according to its chief exec- M&A STRATEGY building the business there. He will be suc- D utive officer Hans Joachim Muller. Azelis is looking at several mergers & acquisi- ceeded as chief operating officer EMEA by The company, which grew significantly tions (M&A) projects and Muller hopes some Anna Bertona. through the acquisition of US-based KODA may come to fruition by the end of the year. Muller expects to see some organic reve- Distribution Group in December 2015, should M&A is used to strengthen existing areas but nue and profitability growth in 2016. But it is be ready for the strategic move by the end of not to enter completely new ones. Geographic difficult to grow organically when commodi- 2016, the CEO says. focus is Europe and the Americas. “We’re not ty prices are falling as this impacts revenues “KODA is an important milestone towards excluding a deal in Asia, but our focus is driv- and profits. our IPO and we’re working towards being en by our commitment to our principals that Although primarily a specialty distribu- ready by the end of 2016. Then the IPO we’re completely compliant.” tor, around 15-20% of the portfolio is com- should take place between 2017-19 depend- Muller says investors are wary of expan- modities, enabling Azelis to offer a compre- ing on three things: performance of the busi- sion by M&A in Asia because of the high level hensive product portfolio for each value ness; strategy of our owners, Apax; and the fi- of volatility there. chain it serves. nancial markets have to be ready.” “What are the risks in China? How stable is “We’ll see quite an increase in profitability Private equity group Apax acquired Azelis it? We like Japan from a business point of in EMEA and the Americas and very much from 3i in 2015. Muller said that a lot of banks view but what about its age profile as it relates so in Asia which is the strongest growth re- have expressed an interest in discussing the to how much people consume? How long can gion for us.” IPO plans, but for now the group is focussed Japan continue with their monetary policy?” on running and growing the business. Despite the challenges, Azelis is growing AFRICA EXpANSIoN He added: “We can influence the perfor- strongly in Asia with a focus on organic ex- Organic expansion is continuing into new ge- mance of our business, but the other two as- pansion. So far in 2016 Asia growth is more ographies. On 1 February an office opened in pects are for the owners and the market. It than 20% higher than the same period in New Zealand which will be earnings-accre- will not be as late as 2022/23 and could be as 2015, fuelled by an expanding network of tive this year.In 2015 Azelis took its first step early as 2017. From an accounting and report- technical services laboratories. There are into Africa, opening an office in Morocco. It ing perspective we will then be ready.” eight in Asia and a coatings expects to open one in Ivory Coast in Septem- The KODA deal was signed on 17 October lab is planned to open in ber, and there are plans for others in Ghana, 2015 and closed on 17 December. Muller India during 2016. Nigeria and Ethiopia this year. says that the due diligence his team did He says Azelis has got He points out that Ethiopia has a popula- when analysing the deal has turned out to be Asia covered with its ex- tion of 98.6m and has grown at over 10%/year correct. A danger when one distributor ac- isting business, adding for the past 11 years. “A lot of what we’ve quires another is the chance that competing that it is important to be seen in southeast Asia over the last 20 years suppliers of the same product come into the there because of growth we will see in Africa eventually. The Chinese portfolio. With this deal, though, there are potential when you did a lot of infrastructure investment there synergies rather than dis-synergies between consider that and it is working well; being an early entrant suppliers, he claims. is an advantage.” The integration was completed at the end “We can influence the Although in Europe and the US the popula- of June from a business point of view.Al- performance of our business tion is aging, immigration is helping a great though ERP systems are not yet identical deal to boost the numbers of young consum- across the merged group, communication but the other two aspects are ers, says Muller. In Germany, for example, about the monthly financial accounts hap- for the owners and the market” 25% of the young people were not born in pens very quickly, he says. HANS JoACHIM MULLER Germany. In the US, 1%/year GDP growth is Individual countries operate independent- CEO, Azelis caused by immigration. ■ www.icis.com 25-31 July 2016 | ICIS Chemical Business | 47 SPECIAL REPORT TOP 100 CHEMICAL DISTRIBUTORS EUROPE CHEMICAL DISTRIBUTION LEADERS (2015 SALES)* tors, tankers and trailers; railcar fleet; analyti- cal and formulation labs Company Sales ($m)* Company Sales ($m)* 1 Brenntag 5,053.31 57 Will & Co 74.16 SINOCHEM PLAsTICs 2 Helm 2,714.5 58 GROUP BARCELONESA 72.64 6 2015 SALEs: $2.27BN 3 IMCD 1,052.14 59 NOVASOL 71.65 4 Biesterfeld 992.42 60 Ilario Ormezzano 70 Beijing, China 5 Azelis 830.64 61 Alpha Wax 69.51 WWW.sINOCHEMpLAsTICs.COM 6 Omya 794.81 62 Bodo Moller Chemie 69.27 General Manager: Zhang Xiaolei 7 Caldic 740 63 PENPET Petrochemical Trading 68.09 Products: Engineering plastics (ABS, PS, 8 Overlack 727.49 64 Nortex 67.4 PC, PMMA, AS, ASA, nylon); general plas- 9 Quimidroga 715.54 65 Aug. Hedinger 65.94 tics (PP, PE, PVC, C8, EVA, PET); basic petro- 10 Solvadis Group 646 66 Selectchemie 65.15 chemicals (PX, SM, PTA, MEG, methyl alco- 11 TER GROUP 546.16 67 Ricardo Molina 62.98 hol, ACN, acrylic acid and esters, acetone, 12 Nexeo Solutions 500 68 AFCO 62 phenol, EA, PO); biology chemicals; leather 13 Jebsen & Jessen Group 439.75 69 Airedale Chemical 61.21 chemicals; marine organism chemicals (agar, 14 SAFIC-ALCAN 425.03 70 PROQUIBASA 59.72 carrageenan, seaweed fertilizer); plant fibre; oleochemicals; pine chemicals; fine chemi- 15 CG Chemikalien 380.57 71 Quimdis 59.72 cals; dye and pigments; coatings and oil 16 Nordmann, Rassmann 369.17 72 Wego Chemical Group 54.9 paint; plastic additives; intermediates; print- 17 Indukern 334.39 73 CellMark Chemicals 54.24 ing inks; water treatment chemicals, plasti- 18 Pluschem EEIG (European 271.45 74 Chem Poland 52.91 Economic Interest Group) cizers; polyacrylamide; modified plastics; 75 Melrob Group 52.51 19 Campi y Jove 267.11 recycled plastics; carbon fibre 76 KH Chemicals 51.25 20 Eigenmann & Veronelli 262.76 Services: Marketing; customised services 77 Behn Meyer Group 48.75 21 DKSH 260.44 and solutions; agent distribution; supply 78 Newport Industries 48.09 22 Arkem Kimya 260 chain management; technical support; manu- 79 MOGoil 47.97 23 Telko 233.45 facturing consignment; after-sale service; 80 Interallis Chemicals Group 46.26 24 Krahn Chemie 217.16 brand maintenance; customs clearance and 81 Noahs Ark Chemicals 45 storage; logistics; information consulting; 25 Tennants Distribution (and associated 209.27 group distribution companies) 82 KALE KIMYA 43.43 market analysis; e-commerce; HSE services 26 VELOX 198.05 83 PHT International 41.9 Assets: 7 warehouses with gross area of 27 Norkem 192 84 Quimitecnica.com - Comercio e 39.2 237,055.12 square metres; 5 office buildings Industria Quimica with gross area of 23,029.17 square metres 28 ECEM European Chemical Marketing 183.7 85 Vikudha 39 Trading sales: 46.33% 29 HSH Chemie Distribution Group 181.33 86 Manuchar 36.6 30 Gamma Chimica 176.49 87 A.+ E. Fischer- Chemie 35.83 31 Donauchem 170.47 IMCD 88 GB-Chemie 30.59 7 2015 SALEs: €1.53BN ($1.66BN) 32 Bang & Bonsomer 165.04 89 Vendico Chemical 30.08 33 Ravago Chemicals 165 90 Joss Elastomers 28.77 Rotterdam, Netherlands 34 IMPAG 162.87 91 SAMECA 27.91 WWW.IMCdgrOUp.COM 35 2M Holdings 157.14 92 Jobachem 25.77 CEO: Piet van der Slikke 36 Bufa Chemikalien Group 154.25 93 SINPRO SA, des Produits pour 24.43 Products: Pharmaceutical ingredients; per- 37 ICC Chemical 150 l'Industrie sonal care and food ingredients; coatings; ad- 38 Solventis 137.9 94 Monarch Chemicals 22.7 hesives; construction chemicals; lubricants; 39 Grolman Group 137.34 95 Alcohols Limited 22.11 detergent chemicals; fine chemicals; plastic 40 Thommen-Furler 122.7 96 Tan International 21.72 additives and compounds 41 Algol Chemicals 115 97 Comindex 21.28 Services: Technical sales and marketing; 42 ELTON Group 113.81 98 EQUILEX 20.63 laboratory services; local and central stock 43 CSC Jaecklechemie 112.92 99 WhitChem 19.31 holding; drumming; repackaging; blending; 44 Atlantic Chemicals Trading 108.58 100 Alfa Chemicals 18.13 sampling 45 Tillmanns 106.19 101 Klaus F.