After more than 10 years of operation in the Egyptian market and specialising in protective and marine coatings with Euroquarzo, a Sigma Coatings licensee, the SigmaKalon group took the decision to form a new company, Sigma Paints (Egypt) Ltd.

This new company, effective June 1, 2002, assumed all responsibilities for the development of Sigma business and has started planning for a new factory to start producing by 2004.

In the meantime, Euroquarzo will continue to produce on behalf of Sigma Paints (Egypt) Ltd and, under a quality control system implemented and managed by Sigma, maintain a presence in the market thus providing all customers with a continued supply of recognised Sigma products. Steve Howland, with 18 years of experience already throughout the Middle East in the paint business, is residing in Cairo as general manager of Sigma Egypt, and will concentrate on developing and establishing Sigma as a household name in paints.

"With a vast selection of decorative products ranging from economical trade emulsions to high quality unique finishes, together with its internationally recognised protective and marine coatings, Sigma Egypt will soon be established as one of the markets' leading suppliers as they already are in over 60 countries worldwide," a SigmaKalon spokesman said.

Sigmakalon emerged following significant alliances. Three years ago, due to a successful merger, one of the world's largest oil companies was formed, namely TotalFina. After a further merger, shortly after, the group became even bigger and renamed TotalFinaElf. This in itself was quite a coup within the oil and gas industry but there was a tremendous by-product, which had a tremendous impact on the international paint-manufacturing platform...SigmaKalon.