NEW ZEALAND
Belgium-based multinational Christeyns, which produces chemicals solutions for professional laundries has entered into a strategic partnership with its sector colleague Fluid Chemicals NZ in New Zealand. This joint venture has been operational since 1 April. Both family-owned businesses have a long history in hygiene. Located in Ghent, Christeyns started in 1946 as a small soap factory. Since then, the company has grown into a major player on the global detergents market offering innovative hygiene solutions for professional textile care to food processing and retail, professional cleaning, life sciences and medical care. With this partnership, Christeyns wants to further expand its geographic influence in the Asia-Pacific region, with a production site in Auckland, New Zealand.
Fluid Chemicals NZ began trading as Applied Chemicals NZ in 1985 with John Anderson as managing director. He purchased the company in 1999 and became a licensed manufacturer and distributor of Applied Chemicals Australia’s products. The company rebranded in 2017 to become Fluid Chemicals NZ. His three children Mark, Kristen and Ben have taken over the business together with their partners. This partnership is part of the company’s strategic plans to increase their share of the cleaning and hygiene market.
Local production
"With Fluid-Christeyns, we will manufacture locally in Auckland for the New Zealand market," said Alain Bostoen, Christeyns' CEO. "The company will not only be active in detergents and disinfectants. It will also provide services and sell the equipment developed by Christeyns' R&D and engineering departments. Examples include our systems to dose detergent, reduce wastewater costs or save water and energy."
Family of experts
Ben Anderson, Fluid Chemicals NZ’s managing director, adds: “Christeyns with its technical expertise understands better than anyone the many challenges our customers face: legal and environmental requirements, quality and productivity standards, innovations, etc. Now that we join a team of over 500 process and application specialists, we can make a difference and help our customers increase their turnover and sustainability”.
The joint venture is named FluidChristeyns Ltd. Ben Anderson remains managing director and his sister Kristen de Monchy continues as marketing and continuous improvement manager. The production site in Auckland is retained, which allows employees to continue to work there.
