Who owns Penguin?
Penguin is owned by Sunstar (Switzerland).[1]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: Sunstar Group — Our Story, Sunstar Suisse S.A. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Sunstar Suisse S.A. reported
- Owner HQ
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland, Etoy
- Origin
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- Category
- Home care › Household goods & storage › Adhesives & repair
- Last verified
- · 3 sources
About Penguin
Penguin is the brand Sunstar Engineering sells automotive adhesives, sealants and coatings under: materials used to bond windscreens, fill cavities and join body panels on a production line, customised for each carmaker. The business began in 1967 as Sunstar Essex Chemical, a joint venture with an American chemical company making sealants for car windows and buildings.
Ownership timeline of Penguin
Where Penguin sits in Sunstar
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Sunstar ownership tree →
See the full Sunstar brand portfolio (8) →
Other brands owned by Sunstar
Sunstar controls 8 brands on Brandtree, 2 of them in home care.
Also in home care
- QAIS (2019)
Other brands in adhesives & repair, and who owns them
The 18 brands in adhesives & repair on Brandtree belong to 9 owners. The largest is H.B. Fuller, with 3.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| EternaBond | H.B. Fuller | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Loctite | Henkel | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| Fevicol | Pidilite | 🇮🇳 India |
| Command | 3M | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Bison | Bolton Group | 🇮🇹 Italy |
| 3-IN-ONE | WD-40 Company | 🇺🇸 United States |
| tesa | Beiersdorf | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| Swiss Army Knife | Victorinox | 🇨🇭 Switzerland |
About the owner: Sunstar
Sunstar is a privately held company headquartered in Etoy, Switzerland, founded in 1932. Brandtree records 8 brands under its control.
Sunstar is a privately held group run by the Kaneda family, with its global headquarters at Etoy in Switzerland and its Japanese headquarters at Takatsuki near Osaka, where Kunio Kaneda founded it in 1932 selling rubber cement in a portable metal tube for mending bicycle tyres. It moved into oral care in 1946 with toothpaste in a tube, and the Sunstar name was coined as a reminder to brush with the sun in the morning and the stars at night. It employs about 4,000 people in 21 countries and runs a consumer oral care business and an industrial one making adhesives, sealants and motorcycle parts.
🇯🇵 Penguin and other Japanese brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 437 brands that began in Japan. 21 of them (5%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Penguin among them.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Penguin?
The parent company of Penguin is Sunstar, a privately held company headquartered in Switzerland.
Is Penguin Japanese or Swiss?
Penguin originated in Japan, but it is owned today by Sunstar, which is headquartered in Switzerland. So Penguin is a Japanese-origin brand under Swiss ownership.
Is Penguin still owned by Sunstar?
Yes. As of 27 September 2026, Penguin is still owned by Sunstar. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (3) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Sunstar Group — Our Story — Sunstar Suisse S.A., Official document; retrieved 27 September 2026.
- [2] Sunstar Group — Chemical and Material Core brands — Sunstar Suisse S.A., Official document; retrieved 27 September 2026.
- [3] Sunstar Group — Global Network — Sunstar Suisse S.A., Official document; retrieved 27 September 2026.
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