Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have been Chief Executive Officer of Brenntag AG since January 2020 and would like to introduce myself to you today in the Annual.
I studied chemistry in Munich and have spent most of my career so far in various management positions at companies in the chemical industry. Among other roles, I have worked in research and development, production, sales, marketing and executive management.
During my career, I have been lucky enough to live in the USA, Switzerland and China as well as in Germany and therefore work with many different people of different nationalities and cultures. And that is a good fit with Brenntag! For although our Group headquarters are in Germany, around 90% of the workforce work outside Germany. Our more than 17,000 employees represent almost 100 different nationalities.
And that brings us full circle to the banner title of our 2019 annual report, “Fascinating Variety”. Brenntag is varied in a number of respects. The different nationalities of our employees, our full-line range of chemicals and ingredients, our broad portfolio of services and the diverse array of industries we serve with our products and services demonstrate how varied our company is. In this Annual, we would like to give you a closer insight into this variety by presenting several examples from around the Brenntag world.
I am excited about the new tasks that we as a team at Brenntag will tackle. Brenntag is an outstanding company with a strong business model in a growing market and great potential for the future! Over the past few weeks, I have already interacted with a number of colleagues, employees and customers in our regions and gained some valuable impressions. Our aim is to continue Brenntag’s successful journey in chemical distribution!
I am looking forward to working together with our business partners around the globe. Equally, I am looking forward to working together with my colleagues on the Board of Management and our employees and to engaging in dialogue with our investors. Together, we will open a new chapter for Brenntag!

Dr CHRISTIAN KOHLPAINTNER
Chief Executive Officer

»I am looking forward to working together with our business partners around the globe. Equally, I am looking forward to working together with my colleagues on
the Board of Management and our employees and to engaging in dialogue with our investors.«
DR CHRISTIAN KOHLPAINTNER
Chief Executive Officer