Brenntag expands footprint in the specialities chemicals distribution market in Saudi Arabia

Brenntag, a global market leader in chemicals and ingredients distribution, has announces a partnership with the Al-Azzaz Chemicals Company via a 75/25 joint venture. While Brenntag has been active in Saudi Arabia, this joint venture greatly expands the company’s presence and footprint with one of the largest speciality chemicals distributors on the Arabian Peninsula.

Henri Nejade, Member of the Management Board of Brenntag Group and COO Brenntag Specialties: "Saudi Arabia is by far the largest market in the Middle East and a key market for Brenntag with a very attractive specialities chemical distribution market size and favourable geographic position in the region. Therefore, I am excited to partner with Al-Azzaz Chemicals. This joint venture will further strengthen our position in the entire Middle East region.”

"Partnering with Brenntag’s global presence is a natural next step in our growth journey,” commented Fahad Al-Azzaz, CEO of Al-Azzaz Holding, owner of Al-Azzaz Chemicals. "We look forward to joining our experience and specialty expertise with Brenntag to deliver a better and tailored service to our customers.”

Al-Azzaz Chemicals Company, established in 1984, is a distributor of speciality chemicals in Saudi Arabia. The company’s key markets are the Food and the Pharmaceutical industries, Plastics and Material Science additives and Petrochemicals.

Anthony Gerace, Managing Director Mergers & Acquisitions at Brenntag Group, highlights the strategic opportunities of the deal: "This joint venture greatly expands our specialities chemical distribution footprint in the most important economic hubs in Saudi Arabia: Riyadh, Jeddah and Al-Khobar Dammam. We look forward to bringing Brenntag’s global footprint and expertise to customers in the region.”

Brenntag’s alliance in Saudi is represented through Trychem FZCO, the UAE-based Joint Venture of which Brenntag acquired a majority stake in 2015. The company, originally active in essential chemicals, such as solvents & blends in UAE and the GCC countries, has meanwhile expanded to also cover the speciality chemicals business in the region with a focus on Lubricants – Food – Coatings & Construction.

Al-Azzaz Chemicals generated sales of €25M in the financial year 2021. Closing of the transaction is expected to be completed in August 2022.