Socaz Holding
Socaz Holding is a Dutch lubricant manufacturing company, and is one of the larger international independent Dutch lubricating oil companies. The company operates a fully integrated business model through its private label/toll lubricants manufacturing company de Oliebron and branded-lubricants sales and marketing company Kroon-Oil. De Oliebron has a total of almost 700 active lube oil formulations in its systems and over 18,000 grade-pack combinations. Socaz has especially strong presence in semi and full synthetic lubricants, the growth segment of the market. In December 2006 GEM Benelux together with management acquired Socaz from Royal Dutch Shell.Key attributes of Kroon-Oil are its strong brand name – originating from 1906 - in combination with its complete assortment¸ and high-level service and client support. De Oliebron’s key competitive advantage is its efficiency to manage the large number of grade pack combinations; in small quantities and/or irregular packaging. De Oliebron is therefore well positioned to capture additional growth as major oil companies increasingly outsource their production given the growing product diversity.
The strategy for De Oliebron is to further optimize the product mix towards semi and full synthetic lubricants, a segment in which the company has traditionally gained a strong position and which provides above average growth opportunities. Furthermore, the strategy is aimed at increasing the company’s production capacity in order to be able to benefit from the ongoing rationalization at major oil companies leading to an increase in outsourced lubricant volumes to niche players like De Oliebron.
The aim for Kroon-Oil is to increase growth through a further (international) presence on the back of the company’s strong marketing power and complete offering. In addition, Kroon-Oil will selectively make bolt-on acquisitions, thereby further enhancing the product offering and benefiting from Kroon-Oil’s unique marketing efforts. A strong example of this is the acquisition, in the spring of 2008, of Putoline Oil. Putoline is a leading brand in motorcycle lubricants with a long history dating back to 1970. The brand is renowned for its superior quality, its attractive and complete range of products. The Putoline brand perfectly complements Kroon-Oil’s current product offering as Kroon-Oil is predominately focused on automotive lubricants, while Putoline is focused on motorcycle lubricants. During 2008, Putoline has been fully integrated in the Kroon-Oil organization. In January 2010, Kroon-Oil successfully acquired VAT Oil. This acquisition provides Kroon-Oil entrance to the Eastern-European market where the business currently has a limited exposure. VAT Oil is a well know brand in the Eastern European market.
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