Azelis expands geographically into South Korea with the acquisition of SammiChem Co, leader in the personal care market

Azelis is delighted to announce it has signed an agreement to acquire a 100% ownership of SammiChem Co (“Sammi”), a distributor of personal care ingredients in South Korea. The company, which specialises in cosmetics, is located in Seoul and employs 17 employees, who will be joining the Azelis team. With this acquisition, Azelis establishes presence in South Korea and is now active in 12 countries across Asia Pacific region.

Dr. Hans Joachim Müller, Azelis CEO, comments on the deal: “South Korea is a technologically advanced country with highly skilled, affluent middle class. A large part of the Asia Pacific personal care market is located in South Korea, making it a very attractive country, both in terms of size and product quality. South Korea is known for its product innovation and affordable high quality brands which are increasingly popular around the world. As we have been building a very strong technical expertise in life sciences in Asia Pacific, personal care in particular, this all makes South Korea very attractive for us. We found an excellent strategic fit with Sammi and we are now very excited to start growing our business here.”

Laurent Nataf, CEO and President Azelis Asia Pacific, comments on the deal: “South Korea, with its population of more than 50 million inhabitants and prime quality personal care products, will allow us to create a solid platform for the region, enabling us to further grow with our existing, global principals. Sammi has built a good customer base and valuable principal relationships. Its laboratory is well equipped for providing innovative solutions to the trend-setting South Korean personal care market and we are very excited to be part of this global driving force now. We believe that the synergies with our international structure and our own partnerships will be a valuable contribution to the local market.”

Mann Sup Ryoo, CEO and owner of Sammi, adds: “Products that we specialise in require a high number of premium ingredients, exemplary regulatory and compliance know-how as well as proximity to and intimacy with customers, making us a vital part of the value chain of the South Korean personal care market. As part of such a well-established global player such as Azelis, we believe to be even better positioned on the market to play that vital role. Not only will we be able to continue to deliver the high quality products and service to our customers, but we believe that this new partnership will open up new doors for us and ensure the future of Sammi.“

Azelis has had strong focus on application development and innovation and this has not gone unnoticed in the industry. In Asia Pacific only, Azelis Personal Care won the 2018 Cosmetics Fountain Innovation Award at PCHi exhibition (China) for the fourth consecutive year, as well as four industry innovation awards in 2017, including the Product Innovation Award at Ringier Technology Innovation Awards (China). Sammi’s skilled technical staff and the well-equipped laboratory are therefore complementary to Azelis’ focus on high quality application and formulation solutions to customers.

The acquisition of Sammi endorses the growing commitment of Apax Partners, who through their Funds are Azelis’ major shareholder, to support global growth in speciality chemicals and food ingredients. Apax is confident that the expanded range of services and global reach provided by this acquisition, following those made during the last three years, will bring significant benefits to customers and principals of the combined group.

The transaction is expected to close in the course of the next three months.