Fluorsid, a large group that produces and sells fluoride derivatives for the aluminum industry, has sold to the London-based investment company Blantyre Capital Limited its subsidiary Alkeemia spa and related assets, namely the Porto Marghera plant in Italy, based close to Venice, and the 50% stake in CF Carbons in Germany (see the press release here). The latter had just been acquired last April (see the press release here).
Alkeemia was specifically set up by Fluorsid Group for the acquisition in 2018 of the Porto Marghera plant from the Solvay Group. In detail, as stated in the Business Plan drawn up at the time and presented in April 2018 to the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, Alkeemia had acquired the business branch of Solvay Specialty Polymers Italy which produced hydrofluoric acid and gypsum in the Porto Marghera plant. All the tangible and intangible assets linked to the Porto Marghera production (including plants, buildings, know-how) and all the staff (70 people) therefore passed from Solvay to Alkeemia. Solvay retained ownership of the land, with an assignment of the building rights to Alkeemia for 99 years.
Founded in 1969 by Count Carlo Enrico Giulini, Fluorsid spa is today chaired by his son Tommaso Giulini and led by ceo Lorenzo Di Donato and is an Italian private industrial group that owns several industrial companies, in Italy and abroad, two trading companies of minerals and metals in Switzerland and England, some qualified holdings in leading companies in the transformation of light metals (aluminum and magnesium). Fluorsid is also the owner of the Cagliari Calcio soccer company, acquired in 2014. The main business sector of the group is the fluorine industry: with an annual production of over one hundred thousand tons of hydrofluoric acid, mostly used for the production of aluminum fluoride, the group is the largest producer of inorganic fluoroderivatives in the Western world, with three chemical companies (Fluorsid spa in Macchiareddu, Cagliari; ICIB srl in Treviglio, Bergamo; and Noralf AS in Odda, Norway) and one mining company (British Fluorspar Ltd , in England). On top of them there is Alkeemia, the sale of which is part of a broader strategy aimed at focusing the company’s operations towards the market of fluoride derivatives for the aluminum industry.
Blantyre Capital, founded in 2016 by Mubashir Mukadam (former Head of European Special Situations of KKR), is the same investor who at the end of 2020 bought a real estate complex on the island of Tronchetto in Venice. The transaction was carried out through Shire, a real estate fund under Italian law managed by InvestiRe sgr and fully subscribed by a vehicle owned by Blantyre Capital Limited (see here a previous article by BeBeez). The aim of that deal is the relaunch of the 16,000 square meters complex, currently largely vacant, through the development of an integrated redevelopment plan aimed at improving the commercial offer of the area and creating value for Tronchetto, the historic center of Venice, the local community and tourists.
Last July, again through the Shire fund, just established at the time, Blantyre Capital had acquired 4 hotels in Rome, Milan and Venice Mestre.
Blantyre Capital focuses on value-add opportunities with a major redevelopment component and on opportunities for the repositioning of low-performing assets, including hotels and residential properties, in major Italian cities, including Milan, Rome, Venice, Naples, Bologna, Turin, Genoa, Verona, in addition to the primary tourist destinations. Its investment strategy includes partnerships with companies in relaunching businesses in situations of temporary financial stress, as well as direct acquisitions in corporate and real estate activities. To date, Blantyre Capital has around 1.6 billion euros of assets under management.
