Azelis reinforces its presence in Poland through the acquisition of Euroconsultant Ltd.

Azelis, a leading distributor of speciality chemicals and food ingredients, is delighted to announce it has signed an agreement to acquire Euroconsultant Ltd. (“Euroconsultant”), a Polish distributor of flavours, shelf life extenders and other products predominantly for the meat segment.

Highlights & rationale

• Poland, a country with almost 40 million inhabitants, has one of the fastest growing European economies.
• Meat is a staple part of Polish diets and the country is a major producer of meat products.
• Azelis has developed strong expertise over the years selling flavours into the meat segment.
• Transaction is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2019.

The transaction sees Azelis acquire 100% of Euroconsultant, with all employees joining the Azelis team. Although Euroconsultant is predominantly active in the meat segment, the company is diversifying into other segments such as fish, cheese, dairy and poultry flavours. The mission of the company is to reduce the traditional smoking to a clean, safe and economical method using smoke condensates.

Azelis’ focus on application development and innovation is well recognised, and an important part of its ongoing success. The company has been renowned for its innovative product formulations across the regions in which it operates, winning a number of outstanding industry awards.

The acquisition of Euroconsultant illustrates the support provided by EQT since the initial acquisition of Azelis. EQT is confident that the expanded range of services and global reach provided by this acquisition will continue to bring benefits to customers and principals of the combined group.

Renata Bugiel, Regional Managing Director Poland and Ukraine, comments:

“We are very excited to bring on board such a well reputed company like Euroconsultant, known in the market for its expertise and service. There is an excellent strategic fit that supports our further growth in Poland and beyond, allowing us to provide an improved product offering and customer reach. Meat consumption in Poland is expected to stay high while more customers switch to the use of flavours compared to traditional smoking methods. Azelis already has a lot of expertise in smoke segment and integration with Euroconsultant will further enhance our position in this market.”

Michał Bąbelek and Bartosz Maryniak, Founders and Managing Directors of Euroconsultant, add:

“We are very proud of what we have achieved over the last decade, having gradually grown the company to where it is today. Joining Azelis will only strengthen the company and will enable us to continue to thrive under their ownership, securing long-term prospects for our principals, customers, employees and other partners. While we focus on integration in short-term, we will continue to pursue our long-term ambition of increasing the use of clean smoke condensates.

Joining such a well-established global player as Azelis will enable us not only to continue to deliver high quality products and service to our customers, but also to access new growth opportunities. Our business will benefit from the speciality chemicals focus of Azelis and their immense technical knowledge, including access to food labs.”