Saint-Gobain (Courbevoie, France) has entered into an agreement to acquire Chryso, a leading global player in the construction chemicals market providing differentiated and innovative solutions, from funds advised by Cinven, the international private equity firm.
Chryso provides comprehensive additives solutions for sustainable construction, relying on innovative chemistry, formulation expertise, and knowledge of construction materials. The company employs about 1,300 employees and generated over the last twelve months revenues of approximately €400million and an EBITDA of €85million.
The acquisition of Chryso perfectly fits within Saint-Gobain’s strategic vision of worldwide leadership for sustainable construction. It will further expand the Group’s presence in the growing construction chemicals market with combined sales of more than €3 billion across 66 countries. The enterprise value of €1.020 million represents a multiple of 12.0x Chryso’s last twelve months EBITDA of €85 million and a multiple of 7.6x post run-rate synergies of €50 million in year 5. Saint-Gobain will fully finance the acquisition using the proceeds from divestments made by the Group.
Following completion of the information and consultation procedure with the employees’ representative bodies, and subject to the approval of the relevant competition authorities, this acquisition is expected to be finalized in the second half of 2021.
By Mary Page Bailey
Source: chemengonline.com
France has launched an offshore green hydrogen production platform at the country’s Port of Saint-Nazaire this week, along with its first offshore wind farm. The hydrogen plant, which its operators say is the world’s first facility of its type, coincides with the launch of another “first of its kind” facility in Sweden dedicated to storing hydrogen in an underground lined rock cavern (LRC).
The project sets up the Hydrogen Valley in Rome, the first industrial-scale technological hub for the development of the national supply chain for the production, transport, storage and use of hydrogen for the decarbonization of industrial processes and for sustainable mobility.
At first glance, hydrogen seems to be the perfect solution to our energy needs. It doesn’t produce any carbon dioxide when used. It can store energy for long periods of time. It doesn’t leave behind hazardous waste materials, like nuclear does. And it doesn’t require large swathes of land to be flooded, like hydroelectricity. Seems too good to be true. So…what’s the catch?
