German lubes and additives specialist, Fuchs, is looking to secure it's position in the Turkish market through recent joint venture activity.
Already established in the country that borders the Middle East and Europe, Fuchs Petrolub has strengthened it's joint venture with local partner Opet - first established in 2005 - by acquiring the whole of Opet's lubricants business to be subsumed into the Opet-Fuchs operation.
The 50:50 split organisation will also take on the 176 Opet lubes employees, as well as the company's Izmir-based blending plant, so that all lubes activities will now be incorporated as part of the joint venture.
At the same time, Opet-Fuchs announced its own joint venture, with a planned $25m investment in a new lubricants production plant in Western Turkey. The deal, with the fuel retail division of Koc Holding AS, will see the phased development of a blending plant which will ultimately produce around 75,000 tons of lubricants annually.
Although not coming on stream until 2013, the plant is another indication of Fuchs' ambitions in developing its Turkish market share. Opet-Fuchs has set sales targets for this year of €90m ($114m a €10m increase on 2011, with an anticipated market share of 12%, or 41,000 tons of finished lubricants.