NEWS | INTERVIEW
building and construction sectors; today those markets account for around 45%. Medical and specialty products from the compa- ny’s new acquisitions provide most of those non-construction gains.
PVC at the core Mertens takes great effort to explain that while the group’s strategy is to diversify its product line, it is not to move away from PVC. With global PVC demand standing at close to 44m tonnes for 2020 and forecast growth rates of close to 4% CAGR to 2024, he says it remains an attractive market. “PVC and building will stay our core business. That is totally clear and we continue to invest in that. But, at the same time, we want to develop other activities,” he says. Benvic’s PVC focus is on
supply of finished com- pounds, which account for around 20% of the total European PVC market and amounted to a volume of around 1.3m tonnes in 2019. The company claims to be the largest single player in Europe in this
sector – which it refers to as “free PVC compounds” and where it sees growth rates of around 1.6% CAGR. It claims a 13% market share. While largely focused on
PVC, Benvic’s recent investments have been directed at extending its capabilities into new areas. In 2018 it acquired the site, equipment and much of the workforce of the former VinyLoop recycling venture at Ferrara (also formerly Solvay-owned and located alongside Benvic’s existing Italian plant). Mertens says that new capacity was secured to provide addi- tional space and personnel to develop new business opportunities in both PVC and non-PVC markets. Also in 2018, the com- pany bought the Alfa PVC compounding business in Poland, which it says is the number two player in the country. “We were not present in Central Europe and the idea was to develop our business there,” Mertens explains. The following year saw Benvic buy UK-based Dugdale Plastics, a specialty PVC compounder with sales
Modenplast’s tubing capabilities and Luc & Bel’s device expertise makes Benvic a compound-to- components player in medical
of around £36m. “We were present on the UK and Irish market but, as you can imagine with [Dugdale’s] strong focus on specialities for PVC, the UK and Ireland is today the first market for the Benvic Group,” Mertens says.
Broader offer If the Alfa and Benvic acquisitions were about adding more to the tradi- tional Benvic PVC business, 2019 saw it begin to broaden out its PVC product offering. The purchase of France-based Ereplast gave it a PVC compounding
company with expertise in recycling while the acquisi- tion of Italy-based Moden- plast added medical compounding and medical tubing production. “Modenplast was
Plantura’s renewable compounds are pitched at durable automotive applications as well as single-use packaging products
18 COMPOUNDING WORLD | April 2021
interesting for us because, as you know, in Europe PVC is the first polymer globally used for medical applica- tions. I think we speak about 45% linked to PVC,” Mertens says. The move into medical continued in 2020 with the purchase of Italian medical device maker Luc & Bel. “The goal for us is to develop a complete chain for the medical sector,” Merten says. “With Luc & Bel we don’t speak about compounds but about the component. We are now able to talk to customers – big customers – about opportunities to develop compounds, tubes and different components.” The new Benvic strategy is also to develop opportu- nities outside of PVC. Mertens says this will initially focus on meeting specific demands from existing customers. A first step was
www.compoundingworld.com
IMAGE: BENVIC
IMAGE: BENVIC/LUC & BEL
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