MERAXIS
Distributor buys plastics unit of French competitor Fournier / Expansion in North Africa
 From left: Stefan Girschik and Jobst Wagner from Meraxis with Stéphane and Bruno Fournier (Photo: Meraxis) |
Swiss plastics trading group Meraxis (Muri; www.meraxis-group.com) has announced the takeover of Fournier Plastics Group (Saint-Priest, France; www.fournierpolymers.com). Financial details were not disclosed.
The transaction is scheduled to close at the end of 2022, and MD Bruno Fournier is to continue to manage the day-to-day business of the company that bears his name.
For polymers, the target’s parent Fournier Group distributes standard thermoplastics, technical grades, and additives in Europe and North Africa. Since the 2016 takeover of Dutch Prime Polymers, which focuses on elastomers and polyolefins, and parts of Spanish distribution group Chemieuro (Zaragoza; www.chemieuro.com), sales were around EUR 250 mn in 2019. The group has 300 employees at 15 warehouses in France and 11 offices in Europe.
In addition to the main Fournier Polymers division with materials from ExxonMobil, Radici, LG Chem, Borealis, Versalis, and MOL, the group also sells chemicals for cleaning and hygiene as well as resins and glass fibres for the composites industry. The corresponding sister companies Fournier Hygiene & Soins (Rillieux-la-Pape, France; www.fc-hygiene.fr) and Fournier Composites (Treillieres, France; www.fourniercomposite.com) are not part of the transaction and will remain with Fournier.
The transaction is scheduled to close at the end of 2022, and MD Bruno Fournier is to continue to manage the day-to-day business of the company that bears his name.
For polymers, the target’s parent Fournier Group distributes standard thermoplastics, technical grades, and additives in Europe and North Africa. Since the 2016 takeover of Dutch Prime Polymers, which focuses on elastomers and polyolefins, and parts of Spanish distribution group Chemieuro (Zaragoza; www.chemieuro.com), sales were around EUR 250 mn in 2019. The group has 300 employees at 15 warehouses in France and 11 offices in Europe.
In addition to the main Fournier Polymers division with materials from ExxonMobil, Radici, LG Chem, Borealis, Versalis, and MOL, the group also sells chemicals for cleaning and hygiene as well as resins and glass fibres for the composites industry. The corresponding sister companies Fournier Hygiene & Soins (Rillieux-la-Pape, France; www.fc-hygiene.fr) and Fournier Composites (Treillieres, France; www.fourniercomposite.com) are not part of the transaction and will remain with Fournier.
North Africa beckons
The four branches in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia – combined in the F2M polymers business founded in 2010 – will go with Meraxis. In 2020 – more recent figures are not available – 20,000 t of standard thermoplastics and 8,000 t of engineering thermoplastics were delivered to North Africa. The distribution among these varieties should also largely apply to Europe.
“We are not only strengthening our geographical presence in important key markets,” Meraxis CEO Stefan Girschik said, “but above all with technical polymers and additives.”
The distribution house Meraxis was created in 2019 from the merger of the purchasing activities of Germany’s Rehau (Rehau; www.rehau.de) with the previously acquired trading house MB Barter & Trading (see Plasteurope.com of 04.07.2019).
“We are not only strengthening our geographical presence in important key markets,” Meraxis CEO Stefan Girschik said, “but above all with technical polymers and additives.”
The distribution house Meraxis was created in 2019 from the merger of the purchasing activities of Germany’s Rehau (Rehau; www.rehau.de) with the previously acquired trading house MB Barter & Trading (see Plasteurope.com of 04.07.2019).
30.09.2022 Plasteurope.com [251284-0]
Published on 30.09.2022
German version of this article...