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.Details provided by the company itself. Retrieved 18 Dezember 2018. 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.Sieveking: Die Anfänge, p. 189. Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. I, p. 54–61. 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.Sieveking: Die Anfänge, p. 191–193. Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. I, p. 69. The company was the first German trading company in Singapore.Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. I, p. 69. Yacob: Trans-generational renewal, p. 4.
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 activitiesSieveking: Die Anfänge, p. 194 f. Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. I, p. 94. Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 54 f and p. 63 f. and it also sold European goods in Southeast Asian ports.Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. I, p. 93. Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 63.
In 1848, Valentin Lorenz Meyer left Singapore to move to HamburgSieveking: Die Anfänge, p. 208. Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. I, p. 105. and left the partnership at the end of 1849.Sieveking: Die Anfänge, p. 190 and p. 208 f. Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. I, p. 106. He was replaced by his brother, Arnold Otto Meyer, who received a minority share in the company and moved to Singapore.Sieveking: Die Anfänge, p. 209. Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. I, p. 103–106. 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.Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. I, p. 107. 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.Sieveking: Das Haus Behn-Meyer & Co. in Singapore, p. 123. Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. I, p. 128 f. Yacob: Trans-generational renewal, p. 1. 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.Sieveking: Das Haus Behn-Meyer & Co. in Singapore, p. 123–127. Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. I, p. 137–146.
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.Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 77–80. Nevertheless, in 1906, Arnold Otto Meyer took control of the company Behn, Meyer & Co.Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. II, p. 99–101. Yacob: Trans-generational renewal, p. 5. Yacob: The Rise of the Phoenix, p. 11.
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.See Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. II, p. 129 ff. Yacob: Trans-generational renewal, p. 6. Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 96. By 1914, the Group had a total of eleven branches in Southeast Asia and the Far East,Yacob: The Rise of the Phoenix, p. 15. 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.Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 90. Its other important lines of business were plantation management (participation in the Straits & Sunda Syndicate),See Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. II, p. 117–120. Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 229–242. insurance and the tin business.Yacob: Trans-generational renewal, p. 7. When war broke out in 1914, the Group was the largest German trading company in Southeast AsiaKleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 30 and p. 78. and also ran the subregion's largest shipping agency.Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. I, p. 147.
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.Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. II, p. 138-143 and p. 155. Yacob: Trans-generational renewal, p. 2 and p. 7. Yacob: The Rise of the Phoenix, p. 18. Many of its employees were interned and some lost their lives during the war.Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. II, p. 138–140, p. 143, p. 156 and p. 165. Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 110, p. 116 and p. 180.
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 warYacob: The Rise of the Phoenix, p. 19 and p. 21. and its business operations in the Dutch East Indies via the N.V. Straits Java Trading Co.Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. II, p. 143, p. 156 and p. 165. Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 115 and p. 211. After overcoming its post-war problems, the Group yet again had more than 14 branches in Southeast Asia.Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. II, p. 168. 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,Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. II, p. 162. Yacob: Trans-generational renewal, p. 8. Beiersdorf AGHelfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. II, p. 162 f. Yacob: Trans-generational renewal, p. 8. and Ford.Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. II, p. 162.
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.Helfferich: Zur Geschichte, vol. II, p. 157 f. See also Gerald D. Feldman: Hugo Stinnes. Biographie eines Industriellen. 1870–1924. Translated from English by Karl Heinz Silber, München, 1998, p. 946. .
The Great Depression hit the company hard. After the National Socialist seizure of power, the state supported financially suffering overseas trading companies by means of pseudo-investments: investments were not paid (making the state a limited partner) but instead made available in the form of bank discount facilities. In actuality, these instruments acted as state security for high-interest loans.Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 193 f. The autarkic policy of the National Socialists continued to have a negative impact on business and the loan burden remained until finally eradicated in 1958/1962.Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 197 f.
Aryanization became a main characteristic of National Socialist economic policy. In 1938, Arnold Otto Meyer took over the Tanning Agent division of Blau & SchindlerMentioned in Frank Bajohr: ″Arisierung″ in Hamburg. Die Verdrängung der jüdischen Unternehmer 1933–1945. 2nd edition, Hamburg, 1998, , p. 350. after the Jewish proprietors of the company founded in 1877 were forced to emigrate. Arnold Otto Meyer ″accepted the terms and conditions proposed without hesitation, proceeded with the acquisition of the firm and its employees and opened up a new own division for tanning agents″.Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 209.
The company's business volume decreased after the start of World War II.Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 209–214. Tapping into new markets in the areas seized by the armed forces also failed to change this trend. Attempts to establish the company in Ukraine, for example, were also unable to achieve lasting success.Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 215 f. As was the case during the First World War, many of the company's employees were interned overseas.Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 139 f, p. 147, p. 219, p. 237 f., p. 253–255 and p. 303–305. During the bombing of Hamburg, bombs struck the ″Kontorhaus″ buildings along the Alsterdamm street (house numbers 1 and 2) and in Ferdinandstraße (no. 2). Only the offices in the ″Kontorhaus″ building at Alsterdamm 1, known as the Haus Alsterblick,Ralf Lange: Das Hamburger Kontorhaus. Architektur, Geschichte, Denkmal. München, Hamburg [et al.], 2015, p. 214 f. . and at Ferdinandstraße 2 could still be used.Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 217 and p. 258.
The 1950s to the end of the 1990s After the end of the war, the company was able to retain its headquarters in Hamburg. All of its overseas possessions were lost.Yacob: Trans-generational renewal, p. 8. Arnold Otto Meyer initially worked in the scrap trade and the sales and distribution of anti-corrosion paint within the British Zone of Occupation.Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 264 f. Given that German companies were excluded from business in Malaya and Singapore for ten years,Yacob: The Rise of the Phoenix, p. 23. the company was able to achieve economic recovery thanks to support from a long-standing British business partner, who took care of the business of Behn, Meyer & Co. and the N.V. Straits Java Trading Co. Arnold Otto Meyer also founded a Danish company that was able to initiate business in Indonesia together with A. P. Møller.Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 439–443. At the end of the 1950s, Behn, Meyer & Co. was yet again considered to be the leading German trading company in Southeast Asia.
It had vastly expanded its range of goods for export business and was again entrusted with a multitude of agencies. The company also acted as a sales and distribution base and service provider for corresponding customers.
In 1982, 125 years after Arnold Otto Meyer was first founded, more than 100 members of staff worked for the group of companies in Hamburg, accompanied by around 900 employees in Asia, South Africa and the Caribbean. At the time, the Group was able to generate external revenue of nearly one billion DM.Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 328.
The 1980s and 1990s, posed a number of significant challenges for the group of companies. On the one hand, technical innovations caused certain products and brands to disappear from the market (for example office machines from Olympia). On the other hand, manufacturers or brand owners decided to expand abroad themselves and set up their own sales and distribution companies and/or production facilities. As a result, they no longer required agencies. Furthermore, wholesale and overseas traders became less important given that direct communication between providers and customers became increasingly faster and more transparent.Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 331 f.
Imports to Germany and Europe also underwent changes: while the tin business remained extremely profitable until the 1970s, it then declined more and more as customers started to purchase goods directly from manufacturers. The Group additionally abandoned its traditional importation of rubber at the end of the 1990s. Further tropical products met a similar fate.Kleinsteuber: Merchants, p. 313–316.