HOOFDDORP, THE NETHERLANDS — Barentz International is expanding in North America by agreeing to acquire Maroon Group, a specialty chemicals supplier for the food and beverage, personal care, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and household/industrial industries. Terms of the transaction were not made public.

Based in Avon, Ohio, Maroon generates annual sales of about $500 million and has about 300 employees. Within the food industry, the company distributes ingredients such as chia seeds, palm oil, sea salt, plant proteins, quinoa, soybean oil and tapioca syrup.

The product portfolios of the two companies are complementary, said Hidde van der Wal, chief executive officer of Hoofddorp-based Barentz International.

“We have no conflicts of interest, and we can learn a lot from each other,” he said. “Maroon Group has significant scale in North America, the biggest economy of the world, where we were small, until today. The combination will immediately make Barentz a leading global distributor with an excellent opportunity to establish new business segments in North America.”

Barentz International is a global life science ingredients distributor for the human nutrition, pharmaceutical, personal care and animal nutrition markets.

“The deciding factor was that Barentz is already a global business, and this creates tremendous opportunities to strengthen our business in North America and internationally,” said Terry Hill, CEO of Maroon Group. “Barentz is well-known across the industry. We share the same philosophy and entrepreneurial DNA, and (Barentz) is the best possible new home for the stakeholders across our business.”

Mr. Hill and his management team will continue to lead the Maroon Group operations.

“Terry Hill brings excellent experience and ‘know-how,’” Mr. van der Wal said. “He also knows my home country The Netherlands and Europe very well and has been highly successful and active in the global ingredients industry for more than 30 years.”