Regional products played a major role in its business activities[8] and it also sold European goods in Southeast Asian ports.

[11] He was replaced by his brother, Arnold Otto Meyer, who received a minority share in the company and moved to Singapore.

[14] On 8 May 1857, Arnold Otto Meyer also arrived in Hamburg and went on to establish the company named after him in the city on 1 June 1857.

[19] By 1914, the Group had a total of eleven branches in Southeast Asia and the Far East,[20] including locations in Hong Kong, Canton and Shanghai.

[25] As a result of the First World War, the company lost buildings and assets that were seized in Singapore, Malaya and the Philippines.

[35] The autarkic policy of the National Socialists continued to have a negative impact on business and the loan burden remained until finally eradicated in 1958/1962.

In 1938, Arnold Otto Meyer took over the Tanning Agent division of Blau & Schindler[37] after the Jewish proprietors of the company founded in 1877 were forced to emigrate.

Arnold Otto Meyer ″accepted the terms and conditions proposed without hesitation, proceeded with the acquisition of the firm and its employees and opened up a new own division for tanning agents″.

[44] Arnold Otto Meyer initially worked in the scrap trade and the sales and distribution of anti-corrosion paint within the British Zone of Occupation.

In 1982, 125 years after Arnold Otto Meyer was first founded, more than 100 members of staff worked for the group of companies in Hamburg, accompanied by around 900 employees in Asia, South Africa and the Caribbean.

On the one hand, technical innovations caused certain products and brands to disappear from the market (for example office machines from Olympia).

On the other hand, manufacturers or brand owners decided to expand abroad themselves and set up their own sales and distribution companies and/or production facilities.

Furthermore, wholesale and overseas traders became less important given that direct communication between providers and customers became increasingly faster and more transparent.

[49] Imports to Germany and Europe also underwent changes: while the tin business remained extremely profitable until the 1970s, it then declined more and more as customers started to purchase goods directly from manufacturers.

The fact that the Group already had decades of experience in the chemical trade proved to be beneficial, particularly with regard to its stronger involvement in the importation, sales and distribution of fertilisers, crop protection products and insecticides since the 1960s.

[56] It purchased land in Sandakan (Malaysia) in 1997 and used the site for the construction of a group of buildings for the storage and processing of fertilisers.

[57][58] In the 1990s, it started to trade in additives for rubber processing and these activities went on to form a basis for the development of its polymer business.

[57][59] The Ingredients division also started to take form, enabling the Group to offer additives for the food industry, for animal nutrition and for cosmetics.

The Group additionally established its Performance Chemicals division, which offers a wide range of products for coatings, for the petroleum and petrochemical industry, for leather and textiles and for water purification.

[57] In West Malaysia, it purchased a site with an area of 20,000m2 in Pasir Gudang in order to construct a new storage facility and processing plants.

At this location on the Adriatic coast, the company manufactured chemicals predominantly aimed at customers in the automotive supplier, rubber and latex industries.

[57] In Myanmar, the Myanmar Agribusiness Public Corporation (MAPCO) and BMM Venture – a joint venture between Behn Meyer AgriCare and Mitsui – agreed to establish and run a joint import, production, sales and distribution company for fertilisers, Agri First, in 2016.

Behn Meyer Europe GmbH mainly operates as a European sales and distribution company for the products of the Group, focusing on the rubber business.

Ltd. and works under this name as the part of the Group responsible for the production and marketing of the additives and active ingredients required by the rubber and plastics industries.

[68] The Group's core business activities are divided up into four divisions:[73] In its list of the largest chemical distributors in Asia (“Asia Chemical Distribution Leaders”) in 2016, the price reporting agency ICIS ranked the group in 5th place out of a total of 63 distributors assessed.

[2] The Group of Companies Headquarter are based in the Kontorhaus am Ballindamm building (house number 1), on the corner of Glockengießerwall, in Hamburg.

[91] In Thailand, the company has been involved in a number of disaster management measures by providing financial donations and helpers.