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09.03.2010 | DKSH, the leading Market Expansion Services provider in Asia, validates its growth strategy through further acquisitions of three marketing, sales and logistics companies with subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Micronesia.
Zurich, March 9, 2010 – Reporting a solid 4 percent growth in Net Sales for 2009, the Asia focused DKSH Group defied the overall trend of global trade that declined by 12 percent in the past year, i.e. the biggest downturn since World War II. The leading services provider for market expansion in Asia consolidated its growth strategy with three acquisitions that joined the Group at the beginning of March 2010. The biggest and best known one in Switzerland is the Hagemeyer-Cosa Liebermann Group, whose luxury goods and lifestyle business enhance the leadership position of DKSH as an independent services provider for the marketing, sales and distribution of premium luxury items in Asia. With this acquisition of the Hagemeyer-Cosa Liebermann Group, the last significant former trading house has now become incorporated into DKSH. In common with Desco, which was acquired two years ago, Hagemeyer-Cosa Liebermann is a Swiss trading company that was founded in Asia at the beginning of the 20th century.
The second acquisition, Chiao Tai Logistics, is the leading logistics company in Taiwan specializing in consumer goods. This transaction strengthens our fast moving consumer goods operations in Taiwan, allowing DKSH to now offer customers regional market expansion solutions in the Hong Kong, South China, Taiwan triangle.
The takeover of Biolife, the leading vitamin and health supplements company in Malaysia, enhances our own-brands operations in the Business Unit Healthcare.
Says Dr. Joerg Wolle, President & CEO of DKSH: „With our anticyclicall approach in terms of investment, and a clearly defined growth strategy, we are consistently extending our position as the leading services provider for market expansion in Asia. „We are more than a little proud of these three recent acquisitions that allow us to strengthen selected strategic business sectors. They are part of a splendid start to the new business year.“
Through these transactions, DKSH is acquiring some 700 new employees, while the distribution network and market coverage are being expanded by more than 80 additional subsidiaries.
In 1912, Johann Wälchli and Ernst Liebermann founded Liebermann-Wälchli & Co. AG in Japan. Specialized in trading with consumer goods in the Far East, the company merged 1988 with Übersee-Handel AG (UHAG, founded 1927 by Julius Müller) to form Cosa-Liebermann.
Cosa-Liebermann in turn was sold to Stephan Schmidheiny’s Anova in 1990. Then, in 1994, it was taken over by the Dutch Hagemeyer Group (founded 1900 in Thailand and Japan) and renamed Hagemeyer-Cosa Liebermann. 2008, Hagemeyer-Cosa Liebermann was subsequently acquired by Rexel, the world’s leading distributor of electrical supplies. Hagemeyer-Cosa Liebermann, however, was never part of Rexel’s core business.
DKSH is the leading Market Expansion Services Group with focus on Asia. As the term "Market Expansion Services" suggests, DKSH helps other companies and brands to grow their business in new or existing markets.
With 560 business locations in 35 countries – 20 of them in Europe and the Americas – and 21,000 specialized staff, it is one of the top 20 Swiss companies ranked by sales and employees. In 2008, DKSH generated annual gross revenues of CHF 8,400 million.
The company offers any combination of sourcing, marketing, sales, distribution and after-sales services. It provides business partners with expertise as well as on-the-ground logistics based on a comprehensive network of unique size and depth. Business activities are organized into four specialized Business Units that mirror DKSH fields of expertise: Consumer Goods, Healthcare, Performance Materials, and Technology.
Although DKSH is a Swiss company with headquarters in Zurich, it is deeply rooted in communities all across Asia Pacific. This is because the company looks back on a more than 140-year-long tradition of doing business in and with the region.
