Sadolin & Holmblad

Global Paints, Inks, Adhesives, and Chemicals group founded as Jacob Holmblad, in 1777 and as Sadolin''s Paints & Inks in 1907 - both at Copenhagen, Denmark, merging to Sadolin & Holmblad (S&H), 1912. S&H was the sole automobile paint supplier to the Danish assembly factories of Ford Motor Company, 1919-1966, and General Motors, 1923-1974. S&H made its first foreign joint venture, a printing inks factory, in Krakow, Poland, 1932. This year, S&H also founded KVK (Chemical Works Koge), a pigment and herbicide company, south of Copenhagen. From 1946, S&H expanded throughout the world - beginning with factories in the Nordic countries, and by 1958, S&H had factories in Western Europe, Africa, and South America. By 1983, S&H had expanded even further, now also having factories in North America, Asia, and Oceania. In 1984, S&H had factories in Iraq, Iran, the USA, as well as a licence factory in the USSR, to show the diversity of the group. In 1987, the EKE''s Pinotex woodcare factory, which worked on a S&H license, became the world's first joint venture company, EKE-Sadolin S P., between a Western country and the Soviet Union (it thereby also became USSR's first incorporated limited company). In late 1987, Nobel Industries of Sweden acquired Sadolin & Holmblad, which at this time had 60+ factories in 40 countries in North America, South America, Europa, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, and was marketed in 120+ countries. Nobel Industries itself was merge into Akzo of the Netherlands - creating today's AkzoNobel, which then we're active in fibres, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals - beside coatings. Today, Decorative Paints, Metal Coatings and Wood Finishes are part of Akzo Nobel, Automotive Finishes are part of PPG Industries, Marine and Offshore Paint are part of Jotun, Inks are part of Flint, while Building Adhesives and Industrial Adhesives are part of Sika, while Pigments are part of Sun Chemical, Agro Chemicals are part of Bayer and Oils are part of BP.