Interview: “A continued shift of growth to emerging markets

You have acquired Allnex, which is a large investment in a relatively new area for GC, what makes the coatings sector especially attractive?

Intarajang: The acquisition is a stepping stone for GC Group to diversify its business portfolio into specialty chemicals and further strengthen its leading position in the chemicals business by combining environmentally friendly innovations with advanced technologies. Which are in line with our vision to be a leading global chemical company for better living, as well as our core strategies, namely, step out (continued investment in high value businesses and expanding GC footprint internationally) and step up (sustainable leadership in line with leading ESG goals) to drive new enduring growth opportunities.

GC has spent over two years studying megatrends and scoped down to two business sectors which are high performance polymer (HPP) sectors and coating sectors. From that, we have concluded that Allnex is the right partner for us, that their business fits GC’s strategy and criteria while creating synergy with GC’s line of business.

Do you have plans to diversify further in the coatings industry in line with your goal to increase your share of performance chemicals to 25 % by 2030?

Intarajang: With Allnex’s broad portfolio, stable profit, and leading green technologies, they are ideally positioned to benefit from three trends shaping the industry: increasing demand for high performance coating resins; a continued shift of growth to emerging markets, and a trend towards green coatings solutions.

We look forward to working with the team at Allnex to leverage our shared growth potential, as we continue to reinforce our business strengths and expansion in performance chemicals and green chemicals while creating shared value for society by supporting communities and the environment. In order to achieve GC’s goal to increase performance chemicals to 25 %, GC will continue seeking for other M&A opportunities.

Once the deal is concluded in December 2021, what can we expect to see in the next 12 months?

Intarajang: GC is confident that Allnex has business and products that meet market and consumers’ demands on both pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic, proven by their strong performance in 2020. After closing this deal GC will fully support Allnex on synergy and financial cost reduction, which will further strengthen their performance.

This interview is part of a longer article on the acquisition which can be read in the September issue of the European Coatings Journal.