Company

Nutrition & Care

Acquisition in Hamburg

From aftershave to toothpaste, and shampoo to foot powder—every German uses around 5 kilograms of cosmetic products on average each year. Demand is growing steadily, not only in Germany. 

At the same time, consumers are becoming more and more demanding when it comes to products that affect their hair or their skin.

The Hamburg-based cosmetics expert Dr. Straetmans specializes in developing alternative preservative systems to meet these increasing demands. Since its founding in 1984, the company has been a pioneer in this field. In the future, it will enhance Evonik’s growing cosmetics business with its expertise. 

Evonik will acquire Dr. Straetmans and, in doing so, will continue to enhance its position as a globally leading partner of the cosmetics industry. The Hamburg site will remain active and become the Group’s global competence center.
The difference between alternative and conventional preservatives is, among others, that the functions they perform in the final product go beyond preservation, for example, by acting as an additional moisturizer. At the same time, it is becoming more and more important for cosmetics manufacturers to formulate their products sustainably. In doing so, customer demands as well as regulatory requirements must be taken into account.

With this acquisition, Evonik will complement the broad specialist portfolio of its cosmetics business. The transaction is subject to approval by the relevant antitrust authorities. It is expected to be finalized in the first half of 2017.

Further information