We Shall Grow Through Acquisitions

Henkel is one of the world’s chemical giants. It has been active in Turkey for 50 years. It has an annual turnover of €250 million with brands such as Persil, Tursil, Vernel, Pritt, Fa and Dixi. Erdem Koçak, who is board chairman of Türk Henkel, says that they will continue to grow in household cleaning products, personal care, adhesives, construction chemicals and technology. He notes that on a global scale they follow a growth strategy based on acquisitions and that they will apply the same strategy in Turkey.

Henkel is a family-owned company based in Germany, a global giant with a total annual turnover of $10.6 billion. It has had a presence in Turkey for over 50 years. Under the name Türk Henkel the company is active in household cleaning, personal care and insulating products, adhesives and flooring technologies on the market.

Türk Henkel is expected to have a turnover of €250 million in 2005. The technology unit accounts for the largest share in its turnover. Türk Henkel Board Chairman Erdem Koçak says that the technology unit provides various high added value chemicals and different solutions for sectors such as automotives, metals, white goods. “As we always say, we sell services and solutions not products. In this field we are an important supplier to all of the automotive companies in Turkey,” he says.

Türk Henkel has an important place on the detergent market. The Henkel range includes the Persil and Tursil brands in detergent powders, Pril in liquid detergents and automatic dishwashers, Vernel in softeners and Dixi in general household cleaning products. Erdem Koçak stresses this market has powerful local and foreign players, that it is a very competitive market and has grown rapidly.

Koçak says that the personal care and cosmetics sector contracted after the crisis and notes that this sector has an important potential. Erdem Koçak says that the market is €500 million in size and that shampoo accounts for almost half of this total. Capital spoke with Türk Henkel Board Chairman Erdem Koçak about Türk Henkel, its position on the market and Henkel’s plans for the future in Turkey and the leading trends worldwide.

Could you tell us a little about Henkel’s structure both worldwide and in Turkey?

Henkel is a family-owned company based in Germany. It has a total turnover of $10.6 billion. It is active in 125 countries. It has companies in 75 countries and over 50,000 employees. Henkel has three main areas of expertise. One of these is detergents which we call household cleaning products. Personal care products, that is to say cosmetics, are another field of expertise. The last area is what we call insulation, adhesives and flooring technologies.

These fields of expertise are managed by four different strategic business units. These are: household cleaning products; personal care; adhesives and construction chemicals; and, last of all, technology. Henkel has just about established this structure in Turkey. I can say that we don’t have shortcomings, we have excesses. Because Henkel is also active in the oil business in Turkey. On a global scale Henkel is only active in the oils business in Turkey. In fact, the oil business is a historical development. It is a business that Henkel has inherited. So, in this sense, in the sectors in which we have a presence in Turkey, we have four active strategic business units. In addition, we also have the oil business.

How big is Henkel in Turkey? How many companies does it currently have?

Henkel has had a presence in Turkey since the mid-1950s. Until 1997 it was represented on the Turkish market by two different companies. Since then, from a management perspective, they have been merged and all the business brought under a single roof. At the moment we conduct all of our business under a single management roof.

This year we are expecting a turnover of around €250 million. The department we describe as our technology unit accounts for 42-43 percent of our total turnover. Household care products comprise 36 percent and construction chemicals unit another 15 percent. The remainder comes from the cosmetics and personal care units.

N. ASLI TEKİNAY
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