Stahl to sharpen its strategic focus with a full separation of its wet-end leather business into an independent company

Waalwijk, the Netherlands, 17 november 2025 – Stahl, the global leader in speciality coatings for flexible materials, announced today that it will complete the carve-out of its wet-end business independently, and will no longer proceed with the sale to Syntagma Capital.

A new wet-end leather company
The intention to divest was announced on 18 November 2024, as part of Stahl's strategic redirection towards a pure-play speciality coatings and finishes provider. An agreement was made with European investment firm Syntagma Capital to acquire the wet-end division once the carve-out from Stahl was completed. Negative current market conditions have impacted the performance of the business and made the sales terms less favourable for Stahl, allowing Stahl not to close the transaction. As such, Stahl and Syntagma Capital have together agreed to exit the agreement.

Stahl will continue the carve-out of the wet-end leather business to create a fully independent company, led by CEO Xavier Rafols, under a new brand: Muno. Its leather experts will continue to provide innovative solutions to customers globally.

Sharpening the strategic focus
Stahl was founded in 1930 as a leather finishing company for the tanning industry, and nearly a century later, it continues to build on that heritage as the portfolio evolves with changing market demands and opportunities.

In recent years, Stahl has made a deliberate strategic shift towards a pure-play speciality coatings formulator. The separation of its wet-end leather chemicals business will allow the company to sharpen its focus on speciality coatings for flexible materials, extending its expertise beyond leather finishing into high-growth segments such as performance coatings and packaging coatings.

Maarten Heijbroek, CEO of Stahl, says: "At Stahl, we will focus to strengthen our leadership in coatings for flexible materials. We believe in shaping a better world through responsible innovation. The carve-out is expected to be completed within the next few months, at which point both businesses will operate as two fully independent companies”.

“Separating global companies is a huge undertaking and I would like to thank everyone involved for their contributions,” Heijbroek concludes.