Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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Ecolab's acquisition of Georgia-Pacific's paper chemicals business, quickly followed by RP Adam & Arpal Gulf (Arpal Group) acquisition
Ecolab announced on Tuesday that it had acquired RP Adam (Arpal Group), the 126-year-old manufacturer of cleaning and disinfectant products based in Selkirk in the Scottish Borders. This comes hot on the heels of the purchase of Georgia-Pacific's paper chemicals business.
Arpal Group has a strong footprint in long-term care and commercial catering sectors in the UK and Ireland, as well as the thriving hospitality sector in the Middle East. The UK operation employs 85 factory and field personnel and the UAE operation, based in Dubai, has 46 employees. Annual sales for the group are approximately $20 million.
With 2016 sales of $13 billion and 48,000 associates, Ecolab delivers comprehensive solutions and on-site services to promote safe food, maintain clean environments, optimise water and energy use and improve operational efficiencies for customers in the food, healthcare, energy, hospitality and industrial markets in more than 170 countries around the world.
For Ecolab, this deal brings RP Adam strength in regional, independent customers and in the long-term care sector nationally in the UK, along with Arpal Gulf's expertise in commercial catering in the UAE in particular.
For the Arpal Group, Ecolab's global reach in corporate accounts presents significant opportunities to develop product and equipment innovation, customer and employee training, as well as enhanced customer service capabilities.
The shared focus is to continue bringing value to end-user customers and distributors through unmatched service levels and technical excellence. Other than the change of ownership, Arpal Group will continue to work with suppliers, customers and distributors as it did before the acquisition.
The Georgia-Pacific business acquired by Ecolab supplies differentiated products and applications that provide strength, softness and durability to paper. These products and applications will enhance Ecolab's position in the growing Tissue and Towel, as well as the Packaging and Board segments of the paper industry.
The business had 2016 revenues of approximately $43 million. The transaction is expected to be completed before the end of the year subject to customary closing conditions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The acquisition will expand the paper industry offerings of Ecolab's paper business, which provides innovative chemistries and solutions, to help producers improve their efficiency, water and energy savings, product quality, and profitability.
"This acquisition will enable us to provide additional value to our customers who strive to produce higher-quality paper more efficiently while preserving natural resources," says Christophe Beck, executive vice president and president, Nalco Water, Ecolab's water management business. "The chemistries gained through this transaction will complement our existing solutions and provide greater opportunity to customise end-to-end programs that meet the needs of our customers."
"We believe this sale to a global industry leader like Ecolab's Nalco Water will be in the best interest of our customers and stakeholders," says Rick Urschel, president, Georgia-Pacific Chemicals.
Image: Robin Leith, managing director and Max Adam, sales & marketing director (RP Adam) Aaron Gardiner, VP institutional division Europe North, Peter Lipke, senior VP institutional Europe (Ecolab).
7th December 2017