Displaying items by tag: SaintGobain

Saint-Gobain looks set to increase its presence in the construction chemicals market this week when it announced a deal to buy Fosroc. A definitive agreement has been set for the acquisition valued at just over US$1bn. The purchase will be financed in cash and is expected to close in the first half of 2025.

The light construction materials company has been growing its construction chemicals capabilities for several years now. In 2021 it acquired Chryso for Euro1.02bn and then it bought GCP Applied Technologies for Euro2.3bn in 2022. Acquisitions of smaller companies in the sector, including Duraziv and IMPAC, also took place. With regards to the proposed Fosroc transaction, Saint-Gobain highlighted in its press release that the deal was “supported by solid macroeconomic factors including the transition towards low-carbon concrete.” It also noted that Fosroc’s geographic profile would strengthen its own presence in emerging markets such as India and the Middle East. Chryso’s market share is mainly in Europe, Turkey and Africa. GCP’s is in North America, Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

As Riccardo Stoppa, Saint-Gobain’s Business Director of Cement additives related to Global Cement Magazine in our May 2024 issue, the Construction Chemicals Business Unit of Saint-Gobain’s High Performance Solutions (SGHS) division broadly produces two groups of products for the cement and concrete sector: additives and admixtures; and a wider range of more recent products using newer chemistry approaches. Saint-Gobain’s total annual revenue is around €48bn/yr with SGCC’s contribution weighing in at around €1bn/yr. Most of that latter revenue derives from the former businesses of Chryso and GCP. Finally, Stoppa highlighted SGCC’s strength in North America, Europe and China but also highlighted the potential in the Middle East for its products. That last point makes interesting reading in light of the current Fosroc deal.

India was flagged as a benefit of the proposed Fosroc purchase. If any further reminder of the growth and market consolidation taking place there were needed, UltraTech Cement revealed this week that it is in the process of buying a 23% share of The India Cements. This story ties into the rivalry between the country’s two largest cement companies. Both UltraTech Cement and Adani Group are mounting up production capacity at pace through both acquisitions and by building new plants. All of this is rosy news for a company selling additives and admixtures to the cement and concrete market.

Saint-Gobain latest acquisition is subject to the usual regulatory conditions as one might expect. Yet, what Saint-Gobain didn’t mention in its statement, was that it reportedly had one of its sites in Türkiye visited in late 2023 as part of an international investigation into anti-competitive behaviour in the sector. Switzerland-based Sika was also linked to the case at the time. The UK-based Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced in October 2023 that it had launched an investigation into suspected anti-competitive conduct in relation to the supply of chemicals for use in the construction industry. It said it was working with the European Commission and that it had been in contact with other authorities, including the US Department of Justice, Antitrust Division. At this time Sika confirmed to Construction News that inspections had taken place into “suspected antitrust irregularities in the area of additives for concrete and cement.” However, it is important to note here that these were merely information gathering activities and no accusations of any breaches of competition law have been made so far. All of this suggests that Saint-Gobain does not seem too troubled by the interest of the various competition bodies with regards to its expansion plans.

In his interview, Stoppa told Global Cement Magazine that SGCC’s products allow cement and concrete producers to reduce the amount of cement used in their concrete. This is almost heretical thinking to a world that produces too much clinker. Yet Saint-Gobain is betting on exactly this outcome through the expansion of its construction chemicals division. Its purchase of Fosroc is the latest stage in this line of thought. It’s not the only company doing this. In May 2023 Sika completed its purchase of MBCC Group, another admixture manufacturer. Further sector consolidation looks likely.

France: Saint-Gobain is intensifying its commitment to low-carbon cement and concrete additives. The group has invested in Fortera, a start-up developing a process for low-carbon cement production. Fortera's ReCarb process reduces CO₂ emissions by 70% in existing cement plants, contributing significantly to the goal of net-zero carbon cement production, especially when combined with renewable energy. Additionally, Saint-Gobain supports Ecocem, a leading company in low-carbon cement technologies in Europe, as a shareholder. Ecocem's ACT technology showcases a 70% reduction in carbon footprint compared to the average CEM II cement used in Europe.

Australia: France-based Saint-Gobain has submitted a non-binding indicative offer of US$5.44bn for building materials producer and land banking entity CSR. CSR’s businesses include insulation producer Bradford, fibre cement systems producer Cemintel, wallboard producer Gyprock, autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) block producer Hebel and roofing producer Monier. Together, CSR’s building materials units accounted for 72% of its sales in 2023.

Ecuador: Saint-Gobain has entered into an agreement to acquire a majority stake in IMPTEK Chova del Ecuador, a producer of waterproofing construction chemicals. When the deal completes it will be France-based company’s first manufacturing presence in the country. IMPTEK sells its products locally but also exports to several Latin and Central American countries. The completion of the transaction is subject to approval by competition authorities and expected in the first half of 2024. No value for the purchase has been disclosed.

Brazil: France-based Saint-Gobain has completed the construction of a new line at its Recife fibre cement products plant in Pernambuco. The expansion doubles the capacity of the plant to 200,000t/yr, at a cost of US$13.9m. The plant produces fibre cement products for sale under Saint-Gobain’s Brasilit brand.

France: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies (HGCT) has signed a partnership deal with Point.P. Under the terms of the agreement, HGCT’s clinker-free cement products will be distributed to Point.P’s ready-mixed concrete (RMC) and batching plants. Point.P is aiming to reduce its CO₂ emissions linked to the use of cement it uses in ready-mix concrete, concrete blocks and precast elements, by 35% by 2030.

Julien Blanchard and David Hoffmann, co-founders of HGCT, said "We're delighted with this partnership with a major player like Point P. This is a major step forward for the marketing of our clinker-free low-carbon cements.”

France-based Saint-Gobain Building Distribution France, a subsidiary of the Saint-Gobain, is a distributor of building materials. Its main brands include Point.P, Cedeo, Asturienne, PUM, SFIC, La Plateforme du Bâtiment, Dispano, Panofrance, Clim+ and CDL Elec. It has a network of over 2000 sales outlets throughout France.

US: CRH subsidiary Oldcastle APG has acquired France-based Saint-Gobain's fence, railing and decking business in the US. The business consists of two production locations, in Buffalo, New York, and Orem, Utah. Together, the sites employ 210 people. The business generated US$65.6m in sales in 2022.

Saint-Gobain said that the divestment serves to advance its profile optimisation strategy under its Grow & Impact plan.

Malaysia: Saint-Gobain has signed a definitive agreement to acquire cement boards producer Hume Cemboard Industries. The France-based group said that the company will complement its existing lightweight product offering in Malaysia. Saint-Gobain expects to complete the deal before 1 October 2023.

France: SaintGobain and Ireland-based Ecocem have announced a partnership to bring low carbon cement products to market. Designed to reduce CO₂ emissions from cement, mortar and concrete, these products are intended to support the acceleration of the construction industry’s transition to a low-carbon economy. A research and development cooperation between Ecocem and Chryso, Saint-Gobain’s construction chemicals subsidiary, is planned to accelerate the development of high-performance admixtures to enable low-carbon cements. This partnership will also cover Saint-Gobain’s mortar business Weber in Western Europe and the distribution and concrete manufacturing activities of POINT.P in France.

Donal O’Riain, the chief executive officer of Ecocem, said “The potential exists today to reduce cement industry emissions dramatically by 2030 and to align with the targets set by the Paris Accord. Ecocem’s new generation of scalable low-carbon cement technologies can deliver on this potential. Our deep partnership with SaintGobain will support our efforts to scale these technologies and demonstrate to the world how we can decarbonise the cement, concrete and mortar industries.”

Ecocem is producer of slag-based cement products with operations in Ireland, the UK, France and the Netherlands. Saint-Gobain holds a 25% stake in Ecocem and describes itself as a significant investor in the company for nearly 15 years.

France: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies is supplying its low-CO₂ clinker-free cement for the construction of an industrial prototype glass wool recycling plant in Chemillé-en-Anjou by Saint-Gobain subsidiary Isover. The company will supply its H-UKR cement for use in the facility’s foundations.

Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies co-founders Julien Blanchard and David Hoffmann said "This unprecedented project is totally in line with what we want to embody since the creation of Hoffmann Green: the promotion of the circular economy in the construction sector through the revalorisation of waste from industry."