Astorg enters into an exclusive agreement with Imerys for the sale of Kerneos

Kerneos is the world-leading manufacturer and supplier of calcium-aluminate based products. Calcium aluminates, invented by Kerneos when it was a division of the Lafarge group, are synthetic minerals obtained by reacting lime (typically sourced from limestone) and alumina (sourced from bauxite), at high temperatures. Kerneos’ products are performance binders with unique characteristics that serve as critical ingredients to formulate specialized mortars, concretes, adhesives, and other building materials. Calcium aluminates are also used in the formulation of refractories, increasing their resistance to heat, abrasion and corrosion. The company has ca. 1,500 employees and operates nine production facilities in five countries: France, the United Kingdom, the United States, China and South Africa, as well as two red bauxite mining operations in Greece. Sales are split between Europe ca.50%, America ca.25% and Asia ca.25%.

Thierry Timsit, Managing Partner, and Stephane Epin, Partner at Astorg commented: "We are very proud to have backed the spin-out of Kerneos from its parent company Materis. The management team, led by its outstanding CEO Jean-Marc Bianchi, has done a remarkable job to make the new stand-alone Kerneos a stronger and faster-growing global leader. Since 2014, we have supported and financed Kerneos’ expansion by investing over Euros 150m in the company in a combination of greenfield industrial projects, acquisitions, and capital expenditures to both expand capacity and maintain a clear manufacturing edge in its US, Chinese and European sites. In addition, we have stimulated the R&D function to accelerate the time-to-market of new, breakthrough performance binders. Should we finalize current discussions, we have no doubts that Kerneos would have a bright future within the Imerys group, offering new opportunities and additional resources to a great talent pool."