Additives for environmentally friendly cleaning agents, corrosion protection or pesticides that secure the livelihood of hundreds of farmers - these are just three examples of the indispensable B2B chemical products of DS Group. As a medium-sized family business, stable growth is important to us. Diversification is not just a buzzword, but a strategic mission. The Chemicals Business Area is another strong pillar of the DS Group, alongside our Oil Division. We think in generations instead of quarters.
We would like to present our holdings in companies in the chemicals sector, the way we are developing and the attitude we take in doing so.
Who we are: Our Chemicals Division
The chemical companies of DS Group produce tailor-made additives for chemical solutions and the most diverse customer requirements. Our customers are always in the centre of attention. We concentrate on various carefully selected market niches. Because this is where our core competences lie, where we develop our full potential.
This agility and our clear customer focus are our success factors. Even if we are small in the shadow of travel, we make ourselves long for our customers. Together, our companies offer a unique product portfolio for a wide range of markets and applications - from the metalworking industry, through the manufacture of coatings and cleaners, and chemical fiber-producing industries, to solutions for agriculture: Different business units, a wide variety of products, customers and regions - but all have one thing in common: added value for customers.
Additiv-Chemie Luers and Alpha Chemie: High-performance additives and customized package solutions
Additiv Chemie Luers GmbH (ACL for short) has been on the market since 1948 and has been part of DS Group since 1999. It is one of the focal points of our growth in the chemical sector. ACL additives are precursors for the formulation of fluids for lubricant chemistry, especially emulsions and oils for metalworking. With almost 50 employees in Delmenhorst, ACL develops and produces at this location and exports worldwide.
As a holding company, we were able to support ACL in its further growth. In November 2016, ACL inaugurated its new laboratory with over 300 m² of working space. The extension is already in preparation. The expansion of the production and storage capacities at the Delmenhorst site is scheduled to start in 2020. The further development of ACL and the expansion of the product portfolio are strategic goals of DS Group.
With our subsidiary ACL, we will establish ourselves more strongly in the biocide-free chemicals market in the future.
The chemical industry and its products must be able to respond more strongly to social requirements. Chemicals that come into direct contact with nature must be environmentally compatible. DS Group is driving this transformation process forward with commitment.
In close cooperation with our subsidiary Alpha Chemie, ACL develops and produces the following B2B chemical products:
- Additives for metalworking fluids
- Additives for industrial lubricants
- Additives for corrosion protection
- Special products: concrete release agents, quenching media, sand flotation
Heat is generated when working with metal. Therefore, industry usually uses water to cool the equipment directly during the machining process. To prevent the machines from rusting due to the cooling water, additives are used. The problem: The machines have to be lubricated and cooled at the same time. In order for water and oily lubricants to combine optimally and thus cool and lubricate at the same time, an additive is needed that matches the anti-corrosion additive in exactly the right mixture.
Esti Chem: Specialized in ester-based, environmentally friendly solutions
Esti Chem A/S is a manufacturer of additives and additive packages for the formulation of industrial fluids such as industrial cleaners, release agents, printing inks and chemicals for oil exploration. The focus is on environmentally friendly ester-based solutions. The acquisition of Esti Chem A/S is a further step towards sustainable chemistry for DS Group. Esters, as compounds of fatty acids and alcohols, are in many cases more readily biodegradable than conventional solvents and are therefore considered more environmentally friendly. One example: Conventional solvent-based cleaners can cause great damage to ecosystems if they are used in the wild. Ester-based solutions are often used where chemical solvents would pollute the environmental cycle - for example on oil platforms or in road construction.
In addition, Esti Chem relies on biological and renewable resources for its ester-based products. The product ranges of Esti Chem at a glance:
- Additives for industrial cleaners, metal degreasers, microemulsions
- Basic components and additives for use in cleaners for the graphics industry, e.g. solvents based on natural fatty acids
- Additives for industrial lubricants and metalworking
- Additives for construction chemicals, such as wetting and release agents and special surfactants
LEVACO Chemicals - the partner for chemical additives
LEVACO Chemicals GmbH, with its headquarters and production site in Chempark Leverkusen, has decades of experience in the production of process chemicals for the following segments:
- agrochemicals
- cable industry
- food production
- paper production
- paints, coatings and construction materials
Another business area of LEVACO Chemicals GmbH is the production and modification of various specialty chemicals for well-known chemical companies.
LEVACO is a leading manufacturer of specialty chemicals and additives, such as
- defoamers,
- dispersants,
- emulsifiers,
- wetting agents,
- flocculants and fixing agents.
An experienced and international team, with in-depth knowledge in the development, production and application of the products, serves customers around the globe.
LEVACO Chemicals GmbH is part of the LEVACO Chemicals Group, headquartered in Bremen, Germany, and is a globally positioned company with partners located worldwide. It combines LEVACO Chemicals GmbH, LEVACO Austria GmbH and LEVACO Far East Ldt. to form a future-oriented group of companies.
An innovative, sustainably effective example of the application of LEVACO Chemicals products is an emulsifier which increases the effectiveness of plant protection products for banana plants. The additive allows the crop protection agent to adhere better to the perennials, so that they are protected more efficiently.
LEVACO Austria GmbH - innovative producer and consultant in one
It bundles the sales activities in the Antifoam & Food Solutions business units. Its product portfolio ranges from chemical additives for the food sector (especially defoamers and flocculants) to a supplier of a high-quality product portfolio for the sugar and food sectors.
With an experienced sales team, LEVACO Austria offers not only high-quality products, but also professional and customer-oriented consulting in the relevant areas, with the aim of designing sustainably optimized production processes. The location in Vienna (Austria) ensures regional proximity to many customers in Central, Southern and Eastern Europe.
The innovative strength of LEVACO is demonstrated, for example, in the protection of large underwater cables. If the cable is damaged, a superabsorber swells up, which provides lasting and reliable protection for the cable without affecting the seawater.
Our customers are our partners. Trust and commitment are important to us. Even in the digital age, we are convinced that good business in medium-sized companies is made between people.
Transporting chemical products is particularly costly because of the high safety requirements and strict regulations. Nevertheless, we want to keep our products as available as possible and deliver them to our customers as flexibly as possible. That's why we see the logistics of our affiliates as a key task that links everything and not as an accessory alongside the Energy, Chemicals and Young Business divisions. This also includes hard factors such as transport routes. Whenever we have the opportunity to shorten or optimize transport routes, synergies are created. Because then we deliver faster and more effectively and are thus closer to our partners and customers. That's why logistics is not an annoying ancillary activity for us, but the core of good partnership.
1. We offer our holdings the greatest possible autonomy and agility
We promote the agility of our daughters wherever possible. This is the only way to ensure that our technical expertise in highly specific product areas such as flocculation aids, viscosity index improvers and non-ferrous metal inhibitors can develop to perfection. We need brains and self-reliant teams who use this freedom to become more successful every day. We set fewer, but ambitious goals and offer a framework for action - but we do not want to interfere in operational matters any more. Our successful subsidiaries need strong entrepreneurs with innovative ideas. They should manage our subsidiaries agilely and independently with the aim of doing a little better every day than yesterday.
2. We grow strategically by our own efforts and through acquisitions - and always long-term
We will only make new acquisitions if the potential stake fits our companies in the chemical sector and pays off in the long term for our strategy. We find this out in intensive discussions with the management of our subsidiaries. For us, "Better together" is not just an empty phrase, but our basic understanding of cooperation, together as a team and at eye level.
3. We promote sustainable, long-term development instead of short-term profit maximisation
We are an operationally active, diversified group of companies. We think long-term, in generations rather than short-term profit maximisation. Our partnership with ACL, which goes back more than 20 years, illustrates how we handle our investments in companies:
We are a strategic partner and not a financial investor. Stability is much more important to us than rapid growth.
We live from the operating profit of our subsidiaries, not from the purchase and sale of investments in companies. This is why we are able to survive difficult phases without rashly parting company with a company. On the contrary, we see such situations as an opportunity to further develop and change our business model. Only those who change will survive.
The companies of DS Group come from different cultural and operational backgrounds. Not only do we accept that, we even like it. Because new acquisitions always bring fresh wind, different perspectives and new know-how into the structures. Of course, DS Group wants to make a profit just like any other company and to be a little better every year than in the previous year. The fact that we give our companies a lot of autonomy also means that we accept when companies develop at different speeds.
