- Business
- Henkel AG & Co. KGaA operates as a German multinational corporation focused on specialty chemicals and consumer goods, with leading positions in adhesives, sealants, and functional coatings alongside laundry, home care, and hair products. Founded in 1876 and headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany, the company conducts operations across approximately 150 countries, including Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, India, the Middle East, and Africa, serving industrial clients, craftsmen, consumers, and professionals in diverse sectors such as packaging, transport, electronics, infrastructure, beauty care, and household maintenance. Its Adhesive Technologies business unit provides a broad portfolio of industrial solutions encompassing packaging and consumer goods adhesives; transport and metal bonding; general assembly products; electronics protection; maintenance, repair, and overhaul sealants; and consumer/craftsmen brands including Loctite, Technomelt, Teroson, Bonderite, Aquence, Pritt, Ceresit, and Pattex, while the Consumer Brands unit offers laundry and home care detergents, fabric softeners, cleaners under brands like Persil and Bref, and hair care, styling, and coloration products such as Schwarzkopf and Syoss for both retail consumers and salon professionals. In recent developments, Henkel acquired Seal for Life Industries in February 2024, enhancing its maintenance, repair, and overhaul platform with protective coatings for infrastructure in renewable energy, gas, water, and civil sectors following the 2023 purchase of Critica Infrastructure; elevated its long-standing cooperation with Nordmeccanica into a formal strategic partnership in May 2025 for advanced packaging solutions; expanded its flagship manufacturing facility in Brandon, South Dakota, in September 2025 to bolster mobility and electronics innovation; and reported strong 2024 results with organic sales growth, margin expansion, a proposed double-digit dividend increase, and a new up-to-1-billion-euro share buyback program, alongside divestment of its North American retailer brands business and acquisition of Vidal Sassoon in early 2024.