Lankem partners Italian experts to launch ‘Hydroshield’, exterior wood coatings in Sri Lanka

Lankem Ceylon PLC in collaboration with Becker Acroma Italia launched a new range of waterborne exterior wood coatings under the brand name ‘HYDROSHIELD’, at a ceremony organized by the Company’s paints marketing and distribution arm - Lankem Paints Ltd.

Lankem, the Sri Lankan conglomerate known for introducing modern technologies to the local market, is the sole agent for the range of products in Sri Lanka. Becker Acroma Italy is the global expert in water based wood coatings and the European market leader in producing wood finishes for industrial and consumer applications. This Swedish based company has 09 production units, 13 technical centres and sales offices in more than 40 countries thus making it a worldwide giant.

The Hydroshield range can be applied to exterior doors and windows, garden furniture, exterior/interior flooring and for maintenance purposes. All the topcoats are available in different gloss levels which are suitable for the consumers’ requirement. Water can easily be used as the diluents and to clean the equipment, thus minimising any harmful impact on the environment. As Hydroshield protects the wood with long lasting finish, the product range is marketed as the “Ultimate UV Protection” coating available in Sri Lanka.

Director of Lankem Ceylon PLC, Ruwan T. Weerasinghe said, “The use of water based wood coatings is becoming more and more popular around the world since it is environmentally friendly, and with high durability, high UV resistance, easy application etc. In Sri Lanka however, 70% are still using solvent based wood coatings due to the low price compared with water based wood coatings. Hydroshield will, for the first time, offer the highest quality at an affordable price to our consumers island wide. Sri Lankan consumers who have had limited options in the past, will now get value for money in the long run as the durability of the water based wood coatings is very much higher than that of solvent based for exterior application”.

“Hydroshield conforms to the highest European standards and is 100% free of heavy metals, thus making it one of the most environmentally friendly products in the market today”, Weerasinghe added.

Speaking on the occasion, Managing Director, Becker Acroma Italia, Antoniazzi Steffano said, “We believe that Becker has found the perfect partner in Lankem to introduce our product rage to the Sri Lankan consumer. We are confident that today will mark the beginning of a journey on which we will not only travel together to give the end users a better product, but also to enhance the quality of life of the applicators in Sri Lanka.

Lankem Paints Ltd., reputed for manufacturing and marketing its flagship brand ‘Robbialac’, is today Sri Lanka’s largest coatings manufacturer, and, a pioneer in the industry. The Lankem Paint factory at Ekala was the first paint manufacturing facility to receive SLS ISO 9001:2008 for Quality Management Systems and is also the one and only paint manufacturer as at date in Sri Lanka to be awarded with ISO 14001 for Environmental Management Systems in addition to the SLS mark.

Photo caption: (From left) Sunny Kurian (General Manager- South Asia for Becker Acroma, Italia), Ruwan T Weerasinghe (Director, Lankem Ceylon PLC), Anushman Rajaratnam (Managing Director, Lankem Ceylon PLC) and Antoniazzi Steffano (Managing Director, Becker Acroma, Italia).