The analysis laboratory at Finikem

FGL International and Finikem will become a single company. The two chemical tanning companies, which belong to the Tuscan holding Lapi Group, announce their intention to develop a strategic unification path.
The goal of the project – reads a note issued on 19 September – is to integrate the activities of FGL International and Finikem, both based in Castelfranco di Sotto (Pisa), which are increasingly perceived on the market as unique and complementary: the first deals with products for the wet phase of leather processing, while the second deals with solutions for finishing.
The union will have a strategic value to face an increasingly challenging market with greater strength and solidity. The prospect is to start a new unique business reality where technical skills, expertise and know-how can interpenetrate, to offer the market a more competitive and innovative offer and an increasingly complete service.
The unification of the two companies will take place operationally in the first months of 2023. Both product lines will be continued, one for the wet-end phase and one for finishing. The current brands FGL International and Finikem will therefore be maintained with a view to continuity, but with optimised entrepreneurial management.
In the months of preparation for integration, the two companies will continue to operate independently with separate warehouse management, logistics and billing.
The new entrepreneurial reality will be led by Francesco Lapi, current CEO of the two companies, who will be joined by Eligio Stoppa and Massimo Rinaldi, historical partners of FGL International, and by Fabrizio Ugolini, new Managing Director, with proven experience in the international chemical tanning industry.
“Lapi Group continues to oversee the chemical tanning sector, its 70 year old historic business, offering the market innovative solutions that keep up with changes and customer requests – states Francesco Lapi -. The unification of the activities of FGL International and Finikem will allow for integrated solutions between two closely related phases of leather processing”. “I thank all those who have supported the two companies in recent years – he concludes – making it possible to realise this project, an opportunity for development and growth in view of future successes and goals. I am sure that our collaborators will support this ambitious project”.

Lapi Group
It is the holding company of the group founded in 1951 with headquarters in Santa Croce sull’Arno (Pisa) and a turnover of almost 110 million euro in 2021. It is made up of nine companies and divided into two specific areas: chemistry, mainly related to the tanning world, which includes Toscolapi, Figli di Guido Lapi, Finikem and FGL International, and the industrial world, with a tannery for leather processing, Gi-Elle-Emme tannery, one for the processing of leather and fabrics, Npa Mosè, and the production of jellies with Lapi Gelatine and the Spanish Juncà Gelatines, acquired at the end of 2021.