Displaying items by tag: FLSmidth Cement

The FLSmidth Cement divestment story took a historic turn this week with the renaming of the company to Fuller Technologies. The sale of the company to private equity firm Pacific Avenue Capital Partners completed on 31 October 2025. Pacific Avenue then publicly rebranded the firm a few days later in early November 2025.

FLSmidth Cement was sold as a complete operating business with all the intellectual property (IP), technology, employees, manufacturing facilities, sales and service organisations included. For more on this read Global Cement Weekly #716. The decision to change the name to Fuller Technologies harks back to the history of FLSmidth and related companies. Pennsylvania-based Fuller Company dates back to the mid-19th Century with the formation of the McKee-Fuller Foundry Company. Fuller Company later emerged in the 1920s when it started selling the Fuller-Kinyon pump, a pneumatic screw pump that simplified the handling of pulverised materials. This product went on to become well known for cement conveying. In 1959 Fuller acquired Traylor Engineering. It was then later acquired by FLSmidth in 1990.

What is interesting here is that Pacific Avenue has chosen to emphasise the US industrial heritage of its acquisition. Looking at the numbers last year offers one answer as to why. Purely in economic terms FLSmidth Cement’s revenue share broke down as follows in 2024: US - 24%; Denmark - 14%; India - 11%; Indonesia - 9%; Brazil - 8%; Türkiye - 7%; and China - 7%. The remainder came from export sales elsewhere.

Both Fuller and FLSmidth are well known brands in the cement sector though. One is American and the other is European. Focusing on the US brand name is a canny move given the increasing dominance of China-based equipment suppliers to the global cement market from the 2010s onwards. One of the few markets that the Chinese equipment suppliers have not made inroads into is the US. Whilst they may have supplied smaller pieces of equipment, major orders have remained the preserve of western companies. Or at least publicly they have. Partly this is because few new lines have been built recently. Yet, the three new clinker production lines in the US in recent years - Heidelberg Materials’ plant in Mitchell, Indiana, National Cement’s plant in Ragland, Alabama and GCC’s plant at Odessa, Texas - had major equipment supplied by either thyssenkrupp or KHD. Both companies are German, although KHD is majority-owned by a Chinese entity.

Western cement multinationals have focused on the US as they have retreated from the east. Key examples of this include CRH’s acquisition of Ash Grove in 2018 and the spin-off of Amrize by Holcim in 2025. Trade protectionism has then crept in under the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022 and the more overt tariffs introduced by the Trump administration in 2025. The US cement market is the third largest in the world and the fundamentals for the local construction materials market look good in the medium term. With carbon taxes in the US looking like a distant prospect, it’s a fair bet that more clinker production lines are likely to be required before too long. Protectionism and demand suggest that an equipment supplier to the cement sector with a historically American sounding name and long US-roots might just have an edge. Manufacturing facilities based in the US could also help reduce the cost of tariffs too.

Of course, given that Pacific Avenue is a private equity firm, it may be preparing for a future carve-out or other forms of financial engineering by building up the perceived value of its asset. Or maybe somebody at Pacific Avenue (or elsewhere) simply likes their American industrial history!

Anyway, welcome back to Fuller Technologies and best of luck. And, lest anyone forget, it remains a multinational company with offices in Europe, India, China, Brazil, Thailand, the UAE… and the US.

Denmark: Christopher Ashworth has resigned as the president of FLSmidth Cement. A new president will be announced for the company after it has completed its divestment to Pacific Avenue from FLSmith. In the interim period Cori Petersen, the Executive Vice President of FLSmidth, will work as the acting president of FLSmidth Cement. Ashworth joined FLSmith Cement as its president in 2023. Previously he worked as the vice president and managing director of Eurotherm, a subsidiary of Schneider-Electric.

Denmark: FLSmidth has agreed to sell its cement equipment manufacturing division FLSmidth Cement to Pacific Avenue Capital Partners (‘Pacific Avenue’). No value for the sale has been disclosed. FLSmidth says that Pacific Avenue has ‘deep experience executing industrial carve-outs and shepherding them to the next stages of their growth journeys.’ It added that it was confident that the partnership would usher in a strong future for FLSmidth Cement, its customers, employees, and other stakeholders. This is Pacific Avenue’s initial foray into the cement industry.

FLSmidth’s Cement and Mining businesses have been together for many years. The company says that, for much of that time, there were distinct advantages to having one company serving both industries. However, in recent years, the two industries have diverged. The sale includes all related employees, assets, intellectual property and technology. Certain legacy contracts and the Air Pollution Control (APC) asset will be retained by FLSmidth.

The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval from the relevant authorities. The business will continue to execute its current strategy with the same services and support offered to its customers. The company says that FLSmidth Cement will become a stand-alone entity with more resources and capital available.

Jason Leach, Partner at Pacific Avenue Capital Partners, said “We are excited to acquire FLSmidth Cement, a global leader providing mission critical equipment and aftermarket solutions in the cement sector. The business has a rich history and strong brands, including Fuller, Pfister and Ventomatic. We believe that cement will continue to play a crucial role in global economic development, and that FLSmidth Cement’s product innovation will play an important role in the decarbonisation of the industry.”

China/Denmark: Denmark-based FLSmidth Cement has signed a licensing agreement with Sinoma International Intelligent Technology (IIT) covering the production and sale of QCX lab equipment in China. Cyril Leung, Country Head China – FLSmdith, said “The deal effectively provides us a new sales channel and represents our continued commitment to enhancing our services in the world’s largest cement market.”

All QCX equipment that FLSmidth Cement supplies outside of China will continue to be made in Brno, Czech Republic. Development and delivery of QCX software will remain in Denmark. FLSmidth noted that the agreement has no impact on the ongoing divestment of FLSmidth Cement.
FLSmidth Cement’s QCX lab equipment supports sampling, preparation and analysis. Products in the range include the QCX/RoboLab laboratory automation system, analysers, sample preparation products, quality control systems and laboratory software.

Kenya: East African Portland Cement (EAPC) has contracted a technical audit from Denmark-based FLSmidth Cement with a value of just under US$70m. EAPC’s acting managing director Mohamed Osman said the findings would guide a pending plant upgrade, to be funded by some of the proceeds from the land sale, according to the Star newspaper. It hopes to double capacity at the unit by the late 2020s without incurring debt. The cement producer is also considering its options to use alternative fuels such as macadamia husks and other agricultural biomass. The 10-week audit process is expected to end in early December 2024.

Osman said “We have tapped FLSmidth to undertake a comprehensive technical audit of the plant, which will assess how to maximise the capacity and inform the design and cost of a new one,'' Osman said. “The audit by FLSmidth will also look at the reserves of raw materials that it has and inform whether it needs to acquire more land that has adequate reserves.”

UK: FLSmidth Cement has entered a cooperation with Carbon Re, a UK-based climate tech company, to integrate FLSmidth Cement’s process control software, PXP, with Carbon Re’s AI-powered cloud platform. This integration will provide cement producers with access to new process optimisation capabilities.

There have been two major announcements in the cement sector this week. The first was that Holcim is preparing to divest its business in the US via a spin-off and full capital market separation. The second was that FLSmidth is thinking about selling its cement equipment business. Both stories are huge so we will cover them both. This week we will focus on FLSmidth and Holcim will follow next time.

Both news stories came as something of a shock. Yet FLSmidth’s plans were not surprising given the divestment of MAAG gears and drives business earlier in January 2024 and several years of tough trading conditions in the sector generally. Yet, as one commentator on the Global Cement LinkedIn Group put it, it feels like “the end of an era.”

First a little history. FLSmidth has been in business for over 140 years and has been indelibly linked to the cement market throughout this time. Its first big cement order was in 1887, it built its own plant in Aalborg in 1889 and it started selling rotary kilns in 1899. By 1957, at the time of its 75th anniversary, it was estimated that 40% of the world’s cement was manufactured in equipment supplied by FLSmidth. Many other advancements and milestones followed but signs of the modern business’ focus on mining can be detected in the acquisition of US-based Fuller Company in 1990, the sale of Aalborg Portland in 2002 and the purchase of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions’ mining business in 2021.

FLSmidth described its reasoning for a potential divestment of its cement business and focusing on mining as follows: “our industries, and in turn, the appropriate operating models which best serve them, have diverged. Consequently, combining our two organisations under one ownership is now forcing more operational friction than benefit.” It took pains to state that it hopes to sell its cement business in one piece whereupon it can continue to grow under new ownership and “maximise its full potential.”

FLSmidth’s strategy for selling its cement equipment business appears to have taken the form of separating out the cement business, making it look as strong as possible and then publicly announcing that it is “exploring divestment options.” This is different from many other corporate divestments that only become public once a deal with a prospective buyer has been secured. FLSmidth has been preparing for a potential divestment of the division internally through its ‘pure play’ strategies and focusing more recently on product, services and technology rather than project risks. It said that the MAAG sale had shown it that there was interest in buying the cement business. However, no potential buyers have been disclosed at this time. In a conference call the company said that it was hoping for five to 10 interested parties and it would expect these to be either industrial buyers or financial entities.

One of the callers homed in on the attempts by ThyssenKrupp to sell the cement division of its subsidiary ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions (TKIS) in 2020 following a restructuring drive. It changed its mind in 2021 and ended up selling its mining division to FLSmidth instead. In response to any comparison, FLSmidth asserted that it was preparing to sell a significantly different asset to TKIS, not least due to its careful steering away from project-based risk.

The wider business backdrop to this decision has been the rise of the Chinese cement sector since the late 1990s, persistent global production overcapacity, the setting of net zero CO₂ emission targets globally and, more recently, logistic and economic shocks arising from the Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical events. New cement production line projects are now frequently managed by China-based equipment suppliers in many territories, with the exception of North America. It is worth noting here that some of the largest China-based cement equipment suppliers are subsidiaries of the government. The Chinese government has also supported the construction of new plants outside its borders through its Belt and Road initiative. Protectionist investment policies implemented by western governments to support industry transitioning to net zero is in part a response to this in the general economy. Cement equipment suppliers from outside of China can and do build lines on a regular basis but they tend to concentrate on parts of plants, such as mills, or specific technologies and services. FLSmidth is a good example of this transition with its renewed focus on the green transition.

The decision by FLSmidth to consider selling its cement business marks another sign that the cement industry is changing. The transition to net zero puts Europe-based suppliers in a good position given that the region is currently leading with carbon capture projects. A retrofit boom for cement plants (and customers) being made to pay for CO₂ emissions could change the dynamic for the cement equipment sector as the focus shifts from building kilns to capturing CO₂. And companies like FLSmidth are well placed to benefit from this. Then again it may just end up being business as usual. Either way, any eventual change in the ownership of FLSmidth’s cement division does indeed mark the end of an era.

Next week: Holcim’s plans in the US

Denmark: FLSmidth has discussed its decision to sell FLSmidth Cement. The company said that the cement and mining industries it serves have diverged, along with the appropriate operating models which best serve them. The continuing combination of FLSmidth Cement and FLSmidth’s mining business now presents ‘more operational friction than benefit.’ The supplier took ‘careful consideration’ of the best interests of all parties affected by the separation.

FLSmidth built its first cement plant in 1887, and pioneered the use of optimisation software in 1969. The FLSmidth Cement digital leadership team will now focus on delivering cement-specific smart and connected services for its customers.

FLSmidth Cement president Christopher Ashworth said “We have proven our ability to embrace change, and the prospect of new ownership will be no different. Working together as a team, we will ensure continued success by staying focused on our customers. Furthermore, our core mission remains: driving the green transition with both new technologies and helping existing plants optimise their operations.” Ashworth added “FLSmidth made its name as a full flowsheet provider of cement plants. It is a history that we value and will continue to build on. But today’s cement market is a vastly different world with vastly different challenges than what has gone before. It therefore requires a different operating paradigm that moves away from a projects-based approach to focus on specific products and services. The pure play strategy thus frees us to adapt to the specific market challenges facing our industry and prioritise the supply of core offerings. The prospect of operating under new ownership only reinforces our current transition.”