Gabriel-Chemie Ibérica is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gabriel-Chemie Spain Holding GmbH. Jose Luis Santamaria Palacios, a well–known figure in the Spanish plastics industry, will lead the new subsidiary. Together, with Sales Director Rafael Becedas Diez, he will be responsible for developing the business in Spain, Portugal and North Africa. Both managers hold shares in Gabriel-Chemie Ibérica S.L. As a first step, the company will invest in a laboratory and production facilities for color masterbatches.

In recent years, Gabriel-Chemie GmbH has successfully exported color and additive masterbatches to the countries on the Iberian Peninsula. It is hoped that opening a new sales and production subsidiary will help generate further growth in this important market.

Ms. Elisabeth Sommer, Managing Director of the Gabriel-Chemie Group, is delighted with the company’s step towards further expansion.

"Our growth potential in this economic area has been limited by our current structure,” she said. “By having our own sales and production subsidiary, we are able to react better and faster than ever before to the market needs of Iberian industries. By building on our reputation for high quality, we believe there is great potential for us to successfully establish ourselves in this large plastics market."

Specialized in refining and coloring plastics, Gabriel-Chemie was founded in 1950 and is now one of Europe's leading masterbatch manufacturers. The independent, privately owned group has its headquarters in Gumpoldskirchen in Austria, and operates further subsidiaries in Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Russia, where it employs approximately 530 people.