Praana Group Appoints Darpan Parikh as Galata Chemicals CEO

The Praana Group has added Darpan Parikh to its board and installed him as chief executive of Galata Chemicals to accelerate integration of recent asset deals and expand additives reach across engineered plastics and coatings. This appointment consolidates commercial and supply-chain authority as Praana executes a cross-border acquisition program touching glass reinforcements, energy-market chemistries, and a Dutch production site.

Parikh brings more than 25 years of leadership in global sales, product portfolio management, and supply-chain optimization from roles at major industrial players. His brief emphasizes operational rigor, portfolio expansion into performance additives, and tighter customer engagement across PVC, coatings, and engineering-plastics channels. The selection signals a shift from dealmaking to integration-led scale, with executive accountability now focused on harmonizing manufacturing and go-to-market activities.

Praana’s near-term agenda under Parikh will include blending newly acquired technologies with existing specialty-chemicals assets and streamlining logistics across international nodes. Technical priorities are explicit: commercialize MBS copolymers and acrylic impact modifiers, optimize additive blends for coatings and PVC, and improve supply continuity for industrial end markets. The leadership change aims to reduce go-to-market fragmentation and lift margin capture through tighter product positioning and cross-selling.

Strategically, the appointment reduces integration risk by placing a senior executive with cross-border execution experience at the helm of the additives franchise. Semantic adjacencies include legacy employers SABIC and General Electric, and counterparties Owens Corning, Halliburton, and Arkema, all relevant to deal synergies. For customers and supply partners, the change signals sustained investment in application development and supply reliability.

Execution risks remain: integrating legacy systems, aligning product portfolios, and stabilizing cross-border supply chains will consume near-term management bandwidth. Success metrics to watch include post-close margin improvement, time-to-market for rebranded additive grades, and customer retention in coatings and PVC channels. If integration is efficient, Praana can translate acquired process technologies into higher-value formulations and stronger channel access.