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Beyond these acquisitions, Henkel has also agreed to purchase Stahl, a Dutch specialty coatings business.
“ We have two lenses by which we evaluate acquisitions,” Mark elaborates.“ One is the core area, and the second is about adjacencies, technologies, or new application areas. Critica and Seal for Life have strengthened our presence in specialty coatings, for instance, which sits alongside our longstanding work in flexible packaging adhesives and rigid coatings.”
ATP, on the other hand, was a deliberate acquisition designed to enhance Henkel’ s adhesives portfolio. While Henkel remains technology agnostic, with no preference for one chemistry over another, its liquid adhesive solutions cannot always serve every application.“ We’ re still a leader in liquid adhesives, but there are certain areas where films and tapes are an ideal solution,” Mark shares.“ We’ ve always wanted to expand into this space and the acquisition of ATP has made this possible.”
The acquisition of Stahl follows a similar pattern. Stahl’ s capabilities naturally complement Henkel’ s offering, adding leather, footwear, and automotive interiors applications. It’ s also about how a product feels; Henkel already coats the inside of paper cups and straws to provide a protective barrier, but Stahl works on the outside of the product, such as protective coatings for sneakers, steering wheels, or even luxury handbags.
“ There are crossovers between Henkel and Stahl,” Mark explains.“ We already work on joining the upper and lower parts of shoes, for instance, as well as automotive parts. Together, we can provide a stronger service to offer more complete solutions to our customers, as well as enter new markets. Aside from products, we also align in terms of our sustainability and culture goals, with Stahl working predominantly with water-based technologies. We’ re excited to have signed the deal, with closing expected later this year [ at the time of writing ] and full integration to follow.”
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