In its second deal of 2019, Swiss distributor and market services group DKSH has acquired Dols International, a privately owned Dutch distributor of specialty chemicals and ingredients.

Dols is focused on markets in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg (Benelux), which DKSH said represented a “white spot” in Europe for its Performance Materials business unit.

Based in Roermond, Dols’ product portfolio includes pigments, binders and additives for use in paints, coatings, adhesives, plastics and construction applications. It also formulates products in its own laboratory, which DKSH will convert to an innovation center, expanding its network to 40 centers around the world.

DKSH did not reveal the purchase price, but noted that Dols generates annual net sales of nearly 10 million Swiss francs at “sound” profitability. The Zurich-based group expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to earnings.

The management team and staff of Dols will join DKSH’s Performance Materials division, the only unit in the company that has a distribution business both in Europe and Asia.

“The value-accretive acquisition of Dols International marks an exciting and important step in strengthening our position as a specialty chemicals distributor in Europe,” said Thomas Sul, co-head of DKSH’s Performance Materials business unit. “As with earlier acquisitions, this local setup will be synergistic for our industrial chemicals business and establish a basis for expanding into the personal care, food and pharma industries.”

DKSH has been building up its presence in Europe in recent years, acquiring businesses in Spain, Portugal and the Nordics. In June 2014, the group took over Zeus Quimica, a specialty chemicals distributor in Spain and Portugal. In July 2015, the company acquired Andreas Jennow, a supplier of specialty chemicals and raw materials in the Nordic and Baltic countries.

In March this year, DKSH announced that it had completed the purchase of the consumer goods distribution business of Auric Pacific in Singapore and Malaysia. The acquisition, said DKSH, increases its exposure to the high-margin food service business and expands its presence in the Asian consumer goods sector.

DKSH paid about 160 million Swiss francs for the business, which has annual net sales of about 185 million Swiss francs.