Effective December 17th, Azelis Group (Azelis) and KODA Distribution Group (KDG) announce that the deal to acquire US-based KDG, is complete and has now closed following regulatory clearance.
As of today, KDG is Azelis Americas and is led by Frank Bergonzi, CEO and President of Azelis Americas, and a member of the Azelis Board of Directors. Frank Bergonzi reports to Hans Joachim Müller, CEO Azelis Group.
Azelis Americas will continue to operate in the USA and Canada using its existing business model and go-to-market strategy. Its renowned local brands will be maintained and co-branded with the Azelis visual identity, thereby emphasizing its local focus on absolute customer service, now backed by a global structure. Specialty markets are also aligned across the Group.
Frank Bergonzi said, “We are delighted to be part of Azelis. As our teams have gotten to know each other over the last weeks, it has been clear that we have similar cultures. We definitely have aligned business philosophy, centered around technical service and focus our efforts on specialty chemicals and ingredients. We share a common goal: to better serve our customers and principals at a global, regional and local level. Since the deal was announced, we learned that many of our principals have indicated they are interested in growing with us. A key attribute is our ability to access the smaller customer base via skilled sales teams with in-depth technical knowledge and market expertise.”
Hans Joachim Müller said,” Although we are now a much larger organisation with a better balanced geographical footprint, the overarching rationale of the acquisition was the revenue synergies that exist between KDG and Azelis, which we aim to exploit. Going forward we will be focusing on generating fast–paced organic growth by extending our lateral value chain offering to the specific markets we serve. Moreover we also will selectively pursue acquisition opportunities to complement our portfolio. We are now well positioned in North America and in Europe and have built a sizeable and fast growing presence in Asia. We will continue to expand and invest for future profitable growth, as we become a truly global player in specialty chemicals.”
In total the new company will have over 30 application laboratories worldwide covering Food & Health, Personal Care, Pharma, Homecare & Industrial Cleaning and CASE (Coatings, Adhesives, Sealants and Elastomers). In-house chemists and technologists help customers to develop innovative products, enhance product improvements and showcase our principals’ products using novel applications. This service in supporting customer’s needs in specialty chemicals remains the cornerstone of the enhanced Azelis Group.
