Hempel supplies coating solutions primarily for ships and has been active in Asia since 1957, where they established headquarter in Hong Kong, because it was a major hub for shipping and ship repair.
In 1992 Hempel entered Mainland China with a joint venture with China Merchant Group. It was one of the best business moves in the history of Hempel, as the Partner and Hempel could jointly develop the Chinese business to the level where it is today, being the single most important market for Hempel. From day one the joint venture it was profitable. .
Hempel have a global supply chain serving their multinational customers with ships being maintained all over the world. Hempel also serve other multinational customer like the wind industry who needs to be supplied worldwide with coatings. Hempel has 50-60% of the wind turbine market in China (both Danish Vestas and Siemens, and Chinese wind manufactures like Goldwind)
However, Hempel didn’t find all of the business in China Merchant Group interesting, so in order to get freedom to operate – and get full profits of their R&D investments – they decided to acquire all the shares back in 2009.
Hempel started almost 100 year ago in Denmark and is one of the worldwide leaders in the coatings industry. They have emerged as one of the major players in China. The company has a turnover on EUR 889 million (2010), approx. 5000 employees, a global presence with 23 factories and 10 R&D centers, 46% of their volume in Asia (2010) – predominantly in China.