The Dutch chemical company DSM is going to merge with Firmenich, a Swiss company that produces fragrances and flavourings, among other things. DSM announced this on Tuesday. The announcement comes unexpectedly: it was not known until now that the two companies were preparing the merger.
The new company, which will be called DSM-Firmenich, is expected to earn 500 million euros more per year. A large part of this is because the food branches of the two companies can complement each other, DSM expects. It will cost a quarter of a billion euros to organize the merger.
DSM-Firmenich will become a Swiss company, but it will also keep its headquarters open in Maastricht. That is currently still under construction, to replace the current head office in Heerlen. The merged company will employ a total of 28,000 people. According to the two companies, 18,000 of these will come from DSM and 10,000 from Firmenich. It is not clear whether there will be layoffs.
Sales materials branch
On Tuesday, DSM also announced that it is selling its Engineering Materials business for EUR 3.5 billion to a partnership between US private equity firm Advent International and German chemical company Lanxess. According to DSM, the location in Emmen that belongs to that industry employed 370 people in 2019. A division for protective materials was already sold to the American company Avient in April.
DSM has flourished in recent years, which once managed the coal mines in Limburg as De Staatsmijnen. Last year the company made a profit of 1.7 billion euros, a threefold increase compared to the previous year. It is precisely the materials branch, which has now been sold, that grew the fastest.
Also read the recent interview with the two CEOs of DSM: ‘We intuitively know what to discuss’
With the cooperation of Milo van Bokkum.