Finnish trading company Telko Group has acquired Molub-Alloy AB, the Swedish distributor of BP/Castrol industrial lubricants, in Telkos first move into the international lubricants business.
Under the terms of the deal, the industrial lubricant distributor will merge into the Telko Group in Sweden. The parties have also agreed to engage in cooperation in northwestern Russia.
Both partnerships – the business acquisition and cooperation agreement – are a sign of Telkos new growth strategy focusing on international trade and expanding its strategic partnership withBP Industrial Lubricants& Services,according to the statement released June 19.
It is the first step in internationalizing our industrial lubricant business, and thus a very important step, Telko Senior Vice President Stefan Tallqvist told Lube Report.
Telko Group will continue with Molub-Alloy ABs current staff of 10, and no new management will be hired. Previous owner Ove Moen will continue with the company as technical manager. The current office facility, located in Molndal, Sweden, will become part of the Telko Group as will a Molub-Alloy AB warehouse in Helsingborg, Sweden.
The new name will be Telko Group, with the addition of Molub-Alloy AB as a second brand name, Molub-Alloy market manager Per Rosenberg told Lube Report. The move is very good, giving excellent synergic effects. Molub-Alloy AB [has been for] 45 years a BP/Castrol distributor in Sweden while Telko [has been for] 40 years the BP/Castrol distributor in Finland. The plan is to share know-how and values in both strong companies. Telko Group will grow as a good partner to industry in Scandinavia and also now in the Russian market, Rosenberg added.
Molub-Alloy AB launched its lubricant business in 1962. Since that time it has distributed industrial lubricants, metalworking fluids and central lubrication systems under the brand names of BP/Castrol, Citgo, Chemtool, Zeller & Gmelin, RLI and Bijur-Delimon. It serves markets from heavy industries like steel and mining to the food industry.
Since 1959, Telko has been active in the trade of industrial lubricants in Finland. It specializes in international trading in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Poland, China and Russia.
With its 500 employees, it is part of the Kesko Group which is based in Helsinki, Finland. It owns the Kesko store chain, a Finnish retail specialist, with more than 2,000 stores operating in the Nordic and Baltic countries as well as Russia.
According to their corporate website, Telko has averaged nearly 300 million euros (U.S. $404 million) in net sales each year since 2000.
The financial terms of the acquisition remain confidential.