As part of its strategy to expand and strengthen its European business, French specialty chemicals group Coventya, formerly part of Chemetall, the specialty chemicals arm of Germany’s Metallgesellschaft, has made two acquisitions in Turkey.

In the first and larger of the two deals, the Paris-headquartered company has taken an 80.6% interest in Politeknik Metal Sanayi ve Ticaret, a leading manufacturer of aluminum surface treatment (AST) chemicals and engineering services with revenues of more than €9 million. Coventya will also launch a mandatory tender offer (MTO) for the remaining 19.4% stake.

Politeknik has a manufacturing facility in Tuzla, Istanbul, as well an affiliated company in Atlanta, USA, and exports 20% of its chemical sales. Coventya said it will use its worldwide distribution network to help further penetrate the AST chemicals market in Europe and the US. The company noted that the lightweight properties of aluminum are driving growth in the automotive and construction industries, as well as in several other market segments.

The second transaction is the acquisition of Telbis in Bursa, northwest Turkey. With revenues of around €3 million, Telbis is Coventya’s exclusive distributor in the Turkish general metal finishing (GMF) market. The deal will give Telbis, which will be renamed Coventya Kimya, the resources required to gain market share in the region.

The aggregate deal size will be approximately €18 million, with Coventya’s owner, Silverfleet Capital, providing additional equity of just over €4 million, depending on the outcome of the MTO process, which is due to start shortly.

Coventya said the two acquisitions will reinforce its expertise in aluminium surface treatment and further develop its international footprint in GMF buy creating a direct presence in Turkey.

Formed by the management buyout of the Chemetall Plating business unit in 2000, Coventya was acquired by London-headquartered Silverfleet Capital from rival private equity firm Equistone Partners Europe in May 2016. Coventya has since made several acquisitions and is now present in Italy, France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, UK, India, South Korea, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico, Brazil and the US. The group, which has 570 employees working at 11 production sites and 7 R&D centers, generates annual revenues of around €120 million.

The group said its growth strategy is centered on replicating its success in China and Malaysia in other markets in Asia; building its position in the rapidly developing ‘Plating on Plastics’ market; and pursuing ‘buy & build’ opportunities to expand into new geographic regions and adjacent technologies.

The global metal finishing market is growing by 6.5% annually and will be worth more than $100 billion by 2020, according to market researchers such as Reportbuyer and WiseGuyReports.