Arnaud SA, Azelis Group has signed an agreement to acquire Rhodia Hellas. The deal will extend Azelis' already strong European coverage not only to Greece but also throughout Bulgaria, Fyrom (Macedonia), Cyprus, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Serbia. In the absence of significant chemical manufacturing, these are important distribution markets for Europe.
Rhodia Hellas head office is located in Athens (Greece), and achieved a turnover of EUR22 million in 2005 with 15 employees. In addition, Rhodia Hellas has a representative office in Zagreb (Croatia). Rhodia Hellas distributes products from all divisions of Rhodia and from other leading chemicals producers, all of which relate to sectors served by Azelis; namely Food and Feed, Cosmetics and Personal Care, Pharma, Coatings, Plastics, Rubber and Chemical Industries.
100% of the shares of Rhodia Hellas have been acquired by Azelis and the company is to be renamed Arnaud Hellas. This is to fit with the existing Central & Eastern Europe Azelis companies (Arnaud Polska, Arnaud Ceska, Arnaud Slovensko, Arnaud Romania, Arnaud Hungary and Arnaud Ukraina).
Henri Nejade, Vice-President Marketing & International Affairs of Rhodia said: "Our activities in this zone are focused on sales rather than manufacturing. This agreement will allow Rhodia to extend its position in this growing region, Azelis being one of the major distributors in specialty chemicals for Rhodia with whom we have developed a strong relationship in the European Market over the past few years
Azelis CEO, Dr Hans Udo Wenzel, said: "This acquisition is a key step in the Azelis strategy to build a specialty focused European chemicals & polymers distribution organisation covering all European markets. We are pleased that Rhodia decided to sell Rhodia Hellas to Azelis following a competitive process and see this as an important further step in the distribution partnership between Rhodia and Azelis in Europe."
