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Linking up Combining strengths
NEWS
Combining strengths
Fagerhult to acquire Lighting Innovations
IN order to establish the Fagerhult Group in the South African market and in the Sub Saharan region, Fagerhult has signed an agreement to acquire the assets of Lighting Innovations based in Port Elisabeth, South Africa, including their subsidiary companies Beacon Lighting and Arrow Lighting. The acquisition is expected to have a positive effect on the earnings per share during 2016 and forward.
The three companies have 210 employees and manufacture lighting fixtures and solutions primarily for the indoor commercial sector. Typical application areas include commercial offices, retail, hospitals and educational buildings. In the year ending June 2015, the companies had a combined sales of approximately €13 million.
“One key element of our strategy is to increase our market position in emerging markets. With this acquisition we gain access to the South African market and several interesting growth opportunities within the dynamic Sub Saharan Africa region,” comments Johan Hjertonsson, CEO Fagerhult. Visit: www.fagerhult.se
Outotec takes over Kovit Engineering Limited
Outotec has acquired the Canadian based Kovit Engineering Limited from its founders. Kovit Engineering is one of the leading technical consulting and engineering companies specialising in surface and underground mine tailings solutions. Tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fractions from the ore. The acquisition complements Outotec’s existing dewatering and tailings treatment solutions and services as well as strengthening Outotec’s position as a global provider of sustainable tailings management solutions.
Kovit Engineering’s annual sales are some €5–10 million and its approximately 30 specialists in Sudbury, Canada, will transfer to Outotec.
“Effective and safe disposal of mining wastes presents technical and environmental challenges. This acquisition of Kovit Engineering will further strengthen our position as a provider of sustainable and waterefficient tailings management solutions to the mining industry,” says Outotec CEO Pertti Korhonen. Visit: Visit: www.outotec.com
Alltech acquires two Norwegian companies
Global animal health and nutrition leader Alltech is actively expanding its European operations with acquisitions in the Norwegian cities of Førde and Bergen. Produs AS and Produs Aqua AS, both family-owned and operated with extensive experience in the Norwegian agriculture and aqua industries, have reached an acquisition agreement with Alltech. Produs and Produs Aqua are Alltech’s 9th and 10th acquisitions respectively, a development that will mean continued innovative, customised and quality products, programmes, services and on-farm consultation for customers in Norway, both on land and at sea. In addition, it will be supported by Alltech’s global and local team of scientists, nutritionists and marketing experts. The combined strengths of the companies will deliver the latest nutritional technologies to Norwegian producers, enabling them to become more efficient, sustainable and profitable.
“We are taking this positive step into the future with Alltech because we believe their global resources, technology and innovative approach to both agriculture and aquaculture will strengthen the operations and profitability of our Norwegian customers,” said Magne Kolstad, chief financial officer, Produs and Produs Aqua. Visit: www.alltech.com
UPM and SEKAB in cooperation for forestry-based chemicals
Bio- and forest industry company UPM is starting a major project aimed at demonstrating processes for the production of green chemical products using forest raw materials. SEKAB, the Swedish chemicals company, is contributing its technology to convert forest product residues into sugars and lignin. The EU is investing €13 million in the project.
“It’s fantastic that UPM is taking this initiative to create bio-based chemical products from a raw material that we have an abundance of in northern Europe, namely forests. We are proud to contribute to a project that could reduce oil dependency and accelerate the transition to a more sustainable society,” says Thore Lindgren, executive vice-president of SEKAB E-Technology.
The project is known as ValChem and it brings together expertise from companies in the forestry, chemicals and biotechnology industries. The aim is to demonstrate processes using by-products from our forests as the raw materials to produce chemical products contained in paints, coatings and personal-care items.
LINKINGUP
LIVIA Group acquires Patheon facility OT Logistics acquires LIVIA Group, a German-based industrial holding, has entered into an agreement to acquire the stake in Luka Rijeka Capua manufacturing facility and associated employees from Patheon, a leading global provider of outsourced contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) services for the pharma and biopharma industries. Capua, one of the world’s largest independent microbial fermentation-based manufacturing facilities with 1400m³ fermentor capacity, represents an exceptional investment opportunity for LIVIA in the highly attractive market of enzymes and small molecules.
“LIVIA Group is enthusiastic about working with Capua to build on their existing strong market position, through a focus on product development, a revitalized sales function and improved production efficiency,” said Prof Dr Dr Peter Löw, chief executive and founder of LIVIA Group. “We are very pleased to be invested in the business and look forward to supporting its future growth.” Capua delivers enzymes, therapeutic proteins and high-value small molecules for applications in food, feed, pharma, agrochemical and fine chemical industry. The facility is both FDA and EMEA (Pharma cGMPs) approved as well as ISO 14001 certified and serves customers in more than 60 countries. Visit: www.livia-group.com Poland’s OT Logistics has bought 2.8 million new shares issued by Croatian port operator Luka Rijeka for 61.2 million Polish zloty (€14.8 million). With the acquisition, OT Logistics will own 20.81% of Luka Rijeka and is therefore the second largest shareholder in the port operator after the Croatian government. The Rijeka port will be a part of a chain linking the Adriatic with the ports of the South Baltic Sea with two important ones owned by OT Logistics Group – OT Port Swinoujscie and OT Port Gdynia. The purchase of the stake in Luka Rijeka will allow the Polish group to grow in the southern part of south-east Europe and to expand its activities into surrounding countries. Consequently, OT Logistics has said it does not rule out the possibility of increasing its stake in Luka Rijeka in the long term. The current port handling capacity in Rijeka stands at over 8 million tonnes, including 5 million tonnes of bulk cargo and 3.2 million tonnes of general cargo. Visit: www.otlogistics.com.pl
ArcelorMittal, LanzaTech and Primetals Technologies have entered into a letter of intent to construct Europe’s first-ever commercial scale production facility to create bioethanol from waste gases produced during the steelmaking process. The resulting bioethanol can cut greenhouse gas emissions by over 80 per cent compared with conventional fossil fuels. It will predominantly be used in gasoline blending, but it can also be further processed into other products such as drop in jet fuel.
The 47,000-tonne ethanol/annum project, sufficient to fuel half a million cars with ethanol blended gasoline, will demonstrate the added value of recycling waste streams, not only by reducing emissions at source, but by keeping fossil fuels in the ground through the production of commodity chemicals and fuels that would otherwise be made from oil.
Construction of the €87 million flagship pilot project, which will be located at ArcelorMittal’s steel plant in Ghent, Belgium, is anticipated to commence later this year, with bioethanol production expected to start mid-2017. Construction will be in two phases, with phase one providing an initial capacity of 16,000 tonnes of ethanol per annum by mid-2017 and phase two, which will be completed in 2018, bringing the total capacity to 47,000 tonnes of ethanol per annum. Visit: Visit: www.arcelormittal.com
Solvay and INEOS create INOVYN
Solvay and INEOS have announced the start-up of their joint venture INOVYN, a world-class competitive player in chlorovinyls.
“Solvay’s transformation has reached a key milestone with the creation of INOVYN and we will continue to focus on increasing its growth, returns and resilience,” said Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, CEO of Solvay.
“The INOVYN joint venture combines two businesses with a strong heritage in the chlorovinyls industry, creating a company fit to thrive in an ever changing business environment,” said Jim Ratcliffe, Chairman of INEOS. “This is now truly a world scale business, well placed to respond rapidly to customer needs in a challenging, competitive market.”
Solvay has also purchased BASF’s 25% stake in its PVC Joint Venture SolVin. In addition, Solvay and INOVYN have agreed to continue supplying basic chemicals to the BASF site in Antwerp.
INOVYN has pro-forma sales of more than €3 billion, with 4300 employees and assets across 18 sites. Visit: www.solvay.com
