The Directors of Behn Meyer Germany invited their employees, customers, suppliers and bankers together with other business partners and friends to a reception at the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein on 5th June 2015.
The celebrations started at 12.30 pm in a terrific atmosphere that was blessed by amazing weather at the beautiful sailing club location on the Alster lake.
The welcome speech by Mr. Kellinghusen paid tribute to the founders of the company Theodor August Behn and Valentin Lorenz Meyer who had established the company Behn, Meyer and Co in Singapore 175 years ago. Thanks were also given to all employees, customers, suppliers, bankers and other business partners for the loyalty, trust and cooperation that they have shown and upon which the company has been built.
Mr. Kellinghusen went on to emphasize the current focus on the distribution of agrochemicals, fertilizers and specialty additives as well as natural ingredients and fine chemicals. The decision to start manufacturing own products to ensure a strong position in the market with a complete and competitive product range was also highlighted as being important to today’s business.
Dr. Kleinstueber, who is currently writing the third volume of the company history, then gave a speech in which he described the company’s long and fascinating history in more detail. The decision of the founders to start their own trading house in 1840 was a fortuitous one. They started out trading in copra, rattan, pepper and rice with the business developing over time into a leading trading, plantation and shipping company in Southeast Asia. The company was then faced with the repeated loss of its Asian subsidiaries due to expropriation during the two World Wars but Behn Meyer managed to survive these crises due to its strong trading base in Germany and regained its position as one of the leading trading houses in Southeast Asia. This achievement was the result of the hard work of our employees and all the other stakeholders in the company.
Dr. Kleinsteuer also mentioned the characteristics which had already been so important to company employees in the early days – the trust and values of the “Reputable Hanseatic Merchant”. He further pointed out that the company had a history of putting trust in its people and receiving total loyalty in return with many employees having given 20, 30 or even 40 years of dedicated service.
The company is proud of its long history and most thankful for the support from all those who have made such longevity possible!
