Germany’s Nordmann, Rassmann (NRC, Hamburg; www.nrc.de) now has a "firm foot" in the Italian market with the acquisition of a majority stake in specialty chemical distributor Jointec (Milan / Italy; www.jointec.it). Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Family-owned Jointec, which will continue working under the same name, supplies chemicals used in industrial applications with a primary focus on thermoset resins and elastomers. Previously, the northern German company's Italian activities were defined by its distribution of products to other parts of Europe suchas the December 2012 arrangement with Italian Franceschetti Elastomeri’s (Corte Franca; www.f-franceschetti.it) thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) in Germany, Switzerland and Scandinavia – see Plasteurope.com of 13.12.2012.

Edgar Nordmann, managing partner of NRC, commented: “Our acquisition in Italy is just a first step. We’re planning further expansions in Europe in order to give the whole group additional momentum as we continue along our growth path.”

NRC distributes throughout Germany, Switzerland, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Nordic countries. Its turnover in 2012 was approximately EUR 300m.