The profitable business of building insulation is being expanded eastwards by polyurethane foam producer Recticel (Brussels / Belgium; www.recticel.com). The Belgian firm said it is paying EUR 30m for Gór-Stal (Bochnia / Poland; www.termpir.eu), manufacturer of polyisocyanurate rigid foam insulation panels. The acquisition marks Recticel’s entry into the Central, Eastern and Southeastern European markets. The takeover is expected to be completed by July 2021.

Recticel’s management, led by CEO Olivier Chapelle, expressed certainty about increasing the current capacity utilisation from 40% to 50% at the Bochnia plant. Since 2015, Gór-Stal has been producing PIR “TermPIR” brand panels at the facility. In 2020, the Polish manufacturer, with more than 60 employees, generated a turnover of EUR 16.7m and an adjusted EBITDA of EUR 2.5m.

It was only at the beginning of March 2021 that Chapelle announced the firm’s intention to focus more on the PIR foam business in the future. The company meanwhile plans to sell its bed and mattress business (see Plasteurope.com of 09.03.2021), at a time when the European polyurethane industry is making rapid progress in the area of chemical recycling for discarded foam mattresses (see Plasteurope.com of 27.01.2021).