Our History

The solvadis group proudly reflects on its more than one hundred year old tradition. Even back at the beginning of the Frankfurt Metallgesellschaft we were engaged in the marketing of sulphur as a raw material. This branch experienced a dynamic upward trend in the 60s and still continues to remain a major part of solvadis' portfolio.
During the restructuring of the Metallgesellschaft, the appearance of the successful trading and service section changed. Many years know-how, our customer service dedication, and our solid business relationships have survived to this day, and remain as solvadis' core strengths.
These are our most important milestones:
1881 | The Metallgesellschaft Company was founded in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and expanded in the raw material and mining industries. |
1920 | Trading with elementary sulphur was started. The Klöckner & Co. Company founded a separate chemical department, which operated solely as a chemical materials purchasing office for mining operations. Later it began to sell products from Klöckner and its subsidiaries. |
1952 | Trading with sulphur from refineries began. |
1966 | First, sulphur was extracted from natural gas. |
1994 | Separation of the former chemical department of Metallgesellschaft AG (particularly sulphur and sulphuric acid) to form MG Chemiehandel GmbH |
1998 | Merging of the Chemag AG (commodity and specialty chemicals, formerly owned by BASF) with the Klöckner Chemiehandel GmbH (distribution of solvents) |
2004 | Merging of the solvadis Group into the venture capital company Orlando Management AG, Munich |
2005 | Acquisition of the chemfidence service gmbh, a service provider at the Industrial Park Frankfurt-Hoechst |
2007 | Acquisition of the Duval Group, a service provider for liquid sulphur storage in Antwerp, Belgium |
2012 | Expansion of Duval’s storage facility and introduction of recycling of spent acid |
2016 | Today solvadis, headquarterd in Frankfurt am Main, a group of 10 companies who share a common history |
2017 | The solvadis Group become a part of the Sojitz Corporation, Japan. |