Building global leadership positions in core markets is a cornerstone of our strategic agenda. By focusing our activities on our key industrial sectors, we strengthen our businesses and underline our determination to accelerate sustainable growth. This was highlighted in 2011 by the acquisitions of coatings manufacturer Schramm Holding AG and the coatings business operated by Schramm’s largest shareholder, Korean company SSCP.
The two deals made AkzoNobel the global leader in specialty plastic coatings for mobile devices, laptops and TVs. They also enhanced our position in the automotive industry with high-end, water-based technology for plastic and metal and will enable us to bring color and design to vehicle interiors. Significantly, more than half the combined revenues of Schramm and SSCP are in Asia – primarily China, Korea, Vietnam and Thailand – offering us a major opportunity to boost our Industrial Coatings activities, particularly in these regions. However, the Schramm deal also shows that we are investing globally in the right technologies when the opportunity comes along.
Based in Offenbach, Germany, with a 200-year history of innovative coatings developments, Schramm manufactures and markets coatings for plastics, metals and electrical insulation, as well as coil coatings. The transaction was notable for reinforcing AkzoNobel’s position in the automotive interior sector in Germany. Peter Brenner – Managing Director of Schramm, who became Director of the combined specialty plastic coatings business – said he was delighted with the deal: “We are looking forward to working with our new colleagues and exploiting the exciting opportunities this integration offers to deliver a new portfolio of world class products and service to our customers.”
