Behn Meyer Holding AG (referred as bm) is a German chemical company and family business that was founded as an overseas trading company in Singapore in 1840, and now develops, manufactures and distributes speciality chemicals. The company headquarters are located in Hamburg and the main focus of its business activities is Southeast Asia. The Group has more than 28 branches, 38 warehouses and several production facilities in more than 14 different countries in Asia, Europe and North America. Its main business activities are divided up into four divisions: AgriCare (fertilisers and crop protection), Ingredients (additives for the food industry, animal feed industry and personal care industry), Performance Chemicals (additives for the chemical industry) and Polymers (additives for the rubber and plastics industry).
History
From the beginning to the First World War
Theodor August Behn arrived in Singapore on 5 July 1839. He went on to trade on his own account and made the most of the business opportunities provided by the outbreak of the First Opium War. His friend Valentin Lorenz Meyer arrived in Singapore on 1 November 1840, which is considered to be the date on which Behn, Meyer & Co. was founded. The company was the first German trading company in Singapore.
It traded both on behalf of other companies (transactions on a commission basis) and on its own account. Regional products played a major role in its business activities and it also sold European goods in Southeast Asian ports.
In 1848, Valentin Lorenz Meyer left Singapore to move to Hamburg and left the partnership at the end of 1849. He was replaced by his brother, Arnold Otto Meyer, who received a minority share in the company and moved to Singapore. In 1851, Behn, Arnold Otto Meyer and Friedrich Albert Schreiber signed a new partnership agreement. In mid-1852, Behn also returned to Hamburg, where he represented the business interests of the company. On 8 May 1857, Arnold Otto Meyer also arrived in Hamburg and went on to establish the company named after him in the city on 1 June 1857. Just one year later, the consequences of the Panic of 1857 posed an existential threat to the company . Arnold Otto Meyer initially remained in Hamburg and worked to maintain the market liquidity of both companies, Arnold Otto Meyer and Behn, Meyer & Co. In 1862, he returned to Singapore for two years, during which he advanced the company's business activities.
Up until the start of World War I, both companies continued to grow, although for many years, Arnold Otto Meyer did not carry out any business on its own account but instead as an agent, paying agent and purchaser for Behn, Meyer & Co. Nevertheless, in 1906, Arnold Otto Meyer took control of the company Behn, Meyer & Co.
The company expanded in the first one and a half decades of the 20th century and opened offices and branches in many Southeast Asian countries. By 1914, the Group had a total of eleven branches in Southeast Asia and the Far East, including locations in Hong Kong, Canton and Shanghai. Alongside its trading activities, this was also the result of the shipping agencies run by Behn, Meyer & Co. Its other important lines of business were plantation management (participation in the Straits & Sunda Syndicate), insurance and the tin business. When war broke out in 1914, the Group was the largest German trading company in Southeast Asia and also ran the subregion's largest shipping agency.
The First World War, the interwar period and the Second World War
As a result of the First World War, the company lost buildings and assets that were seized in Singapore, Malaya and the Philippines. Its losses added up to a total of 12 million Reichsmark. Many of its employees were interned and some lost their lives during the war.
In the 1920s, the company was able to re-establish its position in Southeast Asia. The origins of this development were the founding of a company under Dutch law in Amsterdam after the war and its business operations in the Dutch East Indies via the N.V. Straits Java Trading Co. After overcoming its post-war problems, the Group yet again had more than 14 branches in Southeast Asia. It was able to obtain the sole right of representation for well-known companies, working as an agent for organisations such as I.G. Farben, Beiersdorf AG and Ford.
In 1925, Arnold Otto Meyer took over the overseas export trading companies of the Hugo Stinnes Group. This provided the Group with access to the markets in South Africa, South America (Argentina, Colombia and Chile) and in China.