MELBOURNE, Australia and ZURICH—DKSH entered into an agreement to acquire Tiger Chemicals Co., which will be integrated into DKSH’s business unit performance materials. With this transaction, Performance Materials, a specialty chemicals distributor, gains access to several hundred customers and a sales team with more than 30 years of experience in specialty chemicals distribution.
The takeover of Tiger Chemicals Co. strengthens DKSH’s footprint in Australia, enabling further growth thanks to an expanded customer base. Moreover, it enables the company, headquartered in Switzerland, to extend its activities to New Zealand through established sales channels, offering an even better market coverage in Asia Pacific to its existing and new clients.
The owner of Tiger Chemicals Co., Rex Gordon, will continue to be actively involved in the business within DKSH Australia to ensure a smooth transfer of the business relationships. Established in 1988, Tiger Chemicals Co. imports and distributes specialty chemicals, partly own branded products, and focuses on providing its customers additional value through a solution-selling approach, formulation guidance, stock keeping, and on time delivery.
To enable and manage the strategic expansion and growth of the business in this part of the region, the current management team has been enhanced. Michael Joyce has been appointed as head of business unit performance materials for Australia and New Zealand. He brings more than 25 years of experience in the specialty chemicals industry to the team. Before joining DKSH, he worked more than 20 years for BASF in Australia and Singapore. In his latest position, he was managing director BASF Coatings Pty. Ltd, where he was in charge for both the Australian and New Zealand markets. Michael is an Australian citizen and holds an MBA from the Monash University.
Mario Preissler, global head business unit performance materials, said: “This bolt-on acquisition marks a significant point in the implementation of our strategy for growth in Asia. Tiger Chemical Co. is a perfect fit with our existing business and will provide an extended sales and marketing platform for our business partners’ products, and at the same time, give us a larger footprint to gain new agencies and for further market rollouts for clients. The acquisition will allow us to provide service solutions for our clients and customers across Asia Pacific.”
