MBT changes name to Meraxis South Africa
A NEW global materials distributor entered the international polymers market in July in the form of Meraxis Group, following the merger between the Swiss businesses MB Barter & Trading and Rehau GmbH.
Meraxis made its official debut in the market on 1 July.and will be promoting itself as a new player in the market at the K Show in Dusseldorf in October.
The merger involves the combination of the purchasing arm of Rehau and all global offices of MB Barter & Trading, which now all operate under the new common name of Meraxis.
The goal of the merged and substantially larger entity is to become one of the world’s largest polymer distributors in just a few years, The Meraxis Group said in a statement.
As a result, MBT South Africa, a subsidiary of MB Barter & Trading, formed by Dick Coates in 1996 in partnership with the Endres Family, changed its name to Meraxis South Africa.
“Only our name is changing,” said Meraxis South Africa Managing Director, Ivan Horowitz. “Our contact details, registration number, VAT number, bank details etc. remain the same.”
“What does change is that we are now part of a bigger organisation with considerable buying power and our challenge is to use this to the advantage of our customers and grow the business accordingly,” added Horowitz.
Sales of more than €2-billion
With sales of more than €2-billion, the merged group’s product portfolio includes classic polymers (including PE, PP, PET, PVC), engineering plastics, masterbatches (colour granulates) and recycled materials. In addition, Meraxis procures purchased parts (such as metal, foils, electrical) as well as machines, systems and tools for various plastics processing technologies.
“Meraxis combines a global distribution and logistics network with decades of experience in the development and processing of polymers,” said Dr Stefan Girschik, CEO of Meraxis. “The merger now enables us to support customers around the world in the strategic sourcing of plastics and industry-specific solutions.”
Meraxis works with a global portfolio of supply partners and, said Girschik, “this enables us to provide our customers the products they desire in an agile manner, especially in times that continue to be very volatile and ever-changing”.
It supplies customers in the automotive, chemical, construction, furniture and packaging as well as many other sectors.
In addition to trading in classic polymers, the Swiss polymer distributor likewise develops bespoke solutions to make customer production more efficient. “As a full-service provider, we not only provide advice about the selection of suitable materials for a wide variety of production processes,” said Meraxis deputy CEO Philipp Endres.
“We actively take up the ideas of our customers and, working together, are constantly striving to further develop them into innovative polymer solutions.”
In future, Meraxis’ partners will also benefit from digital and forward-looking service offerings: “Digitalisation offers a multitude of opportunities to make the polymer trade more efficient and to establish new business models,” said Girschik. “As a first step, we will soon be providing our customers with helpful services via a customer portal. Additional ideas are already in the design phase.”
In future, however, Meraxis not only wants to be a digital pioneer, but also wants to be a driving force in the continued development of sustainable applications. For example, recycling solutions are also an important thrust of the Meraxis strategy.
The Board of Directors of the new company consists of Dr Stefan Girschik as CEO (formerly deputy CEO of Rehau Group), Philipp Endres as deputy CEO (formerly CEO of MB Barter & Trading) and Marco Zahnd as CFO (formerly CFO of Rehau Switzerland).
