German chemical distributor Harke Group has acquired Chemlink Specialities and Addi-Tec, both part of the Manchester, UK-based Chemlink Group.

Through the acquisition, the family-owned group based at Mühlheim an der Ruhr said it will gain a strong UK base and will be in a position to expand the portfolio of products and services the two British companies currently offer customers. Among other things, Harke said it plans to add lab space at Manchester.

Chemlink Specialities is a distributor of specialty chemicals in the UK and Ireland with a focus on household and industrial products as well as pharmaceuticals. The Manchester firm with its own on-site lab facilities offers services such as formulation development, reformulation, micro testing and performance testing in addition to providing regulatory advice, sourcing and samples.

Additec is a distributor catering to the paints and coatings and the plastics processing sectors, providing some of the same services as Chemlink Specialities.

Acquiring the two companies is another important step in Harke’s strategy of offering customers and principals “an excellent and innovative commercial, logistical and technical service throughout Europe, Russia and Turkey,“ said group president Thorsten Harke.

The German distributor, which by its own account ranks among Europe’s top 50 such companies, has production sites in Germany and Hungary and a broad portfolio of products for the life science industries, including pharma, food and cosmetics. In 2019, it expects sales of €150 million.

Harke also supplies the clean care and water treatment industries and caters to companies in the coatings, specialty plastic films, industrial chemicals and high purity chemicals fields. Complete packaging, graphics and gravure systems round out the picture.