RPM acquires European fire protection
and insulation business
RPM International Inc. announced that its
Performance Coatings Group has acquired the Grupo P&V group of companies, a leading European vertically
integrated supplier of passive fire protection and insulation products. Headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, and with
manufacturing in Villarana, Grupo has
annual sales of approximately $23 million. Grupo manufactures, markets and
installs expanded perlite and vermiculite
for passive fire protection, soundproofing,
and cryogenic and heat insulation applications. “This acquisition expands our
fireproofing and insulation capabilities,
and in conjunction with our Carboline
product portfolio, we expect it to help further expand our fire protection and corrosion control market throughout
Europe,” said Frank Sullivan, RPM chairman and chief executive. Grupo will continue to be led by its existing management
team and owners, including founder
Isidro Marques and Alvaro Boter.
BASF plans to sell the
decorative paints business of
Relius Coatings
BASF Coatings said it plans to sell in the
near-term the decorative paints business
of Relius Coatings GmbH & Co. KG
along with the respective subsidiaries in
France and the Netherlands. The business
encompasses decorative paints and plaster as well as coatings and glazing for construction applications. Regionally, it is
focused on Germany and selected countries in Europe. In 2010, the business had
total sales of approximately €80 million.
The sites in Memmingen, Germany, and
Deurne, Netherlands, are part of the divestiture in addition to distribution offices
of Relius for decorative paints.
BASF’s business with decorative paints
in South America and China is not affected by the planned divestiture and will
be further expanded. The business with industrial coatings of Relius Coatings that
is managed out of the Oldenburg site will
remain a part of BASF Coatings.
In 2006, BASF acquired Relius Coatings GmbH and Co. KG as a part of the
Degussa construction chemicals business. It remained a company within
BASF Coatings.
“In a very competitive market, we
have been successful in stabilizing the
Relius deco paints primarily in the areas
of brand, distribution and innovation,”
said Raimar Jahn, president of the coatings division of BASF. “To be profitable
over the long-term, however, our market
share is too low, particularly in Germany. For this reason, we believe that
the Relius deco paints will develop better
in another environment.
The decorative paint business of Relius
focuses on direct sales to painters and specialist dealers. In Germany and France,
Relius has about 30 distribution offices. In
addition, Relius markets deco paints
through importers in selected countries in
Western Europe. In the Netherlands, Relius manufactures and markets products
of the two brands Relius Fleurit and Relius Hoeka from its site in Deurne.
The businesses with protective and marine coatings, general industry coatings as
well as coatings for rotor blades for wind
energy facilities are not part of the
planned divestiture. These activities will
be further developed and globally expanded as a part of BASF’s industrial
coatings business.
“The consultation process with the
works councils has been started,” said Andreas Fehren, managing director of Relius
GmbH & Co. KG. “It is our clear objective to sell the Relius deco paint business
in the near-term to another company. By
selling we aim to avoid forced redundan-cies for operational reasons if possible.”
AkzoNobel consolidates paint
brands under the Let’s Colour
identity
AkzoNobel has introduced a new mar-
keting strategy for its decorative paints
division by launching a single global
brand identity for its retail consumer
paint range. The “Let’s Colour” identity
includes the brands Dulux, Flexa, Levis,
Alba, Coral, Marshall, Astral, Bruguer,
Dulux Valentine, Inca, Sadolin and
Vivechrom.
This new marketing strategy is designed to expand AkzoNobel’s market
share in consumer paint worldwide,
which currently generates annual revenues
close to € 5 billion.
The new global brand identity is being
rolled out worldwide, starting in Canada,
China, India, South East Asia, Asia Pacific
and the Netherlands. Other countries and
regions will follow during the course of
the year, with the new brand identity eventually being deployed in close to 50 markets. In addition, the AkzoNobel company
endorsement will be introduced on the
front of packaging, as well as on all advertisements, product websites and other
relevant marketing materials.
“There are huge opportunities for us
to compete directly in local and regional
markets. By delivering a consistent brand
image around the world, we can increase
our global scale and establish more leadership positions,” said Tex Gunning, AkzoNobel executive committee member
responsible for decorative paints.
“We are creating an iconic, truly global
brand with the right degree of common-
ality in its expression,” said Sucheta Govil,
the company’s global head of marketing
for decorative paints. “Yet we are deploy-
ing the strategy in the marketplace with
the relevant local touch. Our strategy is to
streamline our offering from dozens of
brands to fewer iconic, global and im-
pactful brands.”
The new brand identity is based
around a “Flourish” logo which embod-
ies the decorative paints’ global Let’s
Colour campaign. It features a human
figure and colorful Flourish which will
appear on all product packaging for the
Let’s Colour brands.
