Saur acquires Nijhuis Industries to form a leading player in industrial water
Saur announces the acquisition of Nijhuis Industries, a leading Dutch group specialised in advanced industrial water and wastewater treatment solutions with a worldwide footprint. Nijhuis Industries will bring Saur’s Industrial Water activities to a step-change level with total annual revenues of about €200m, technological edge and global presence.
This acquisition is a major step into the transformation of Saur towards a more international group, with a strengthened technological, innovative and digital differentiation and a stronger growth profile thanks to a leading position in the higher growth Industrial Water business.
Under the leadership of Nijhuis’ current CEO and CFO, the new platform resulting from the combination of Nijhuis Industries with Saur industrial businesses, namely Saur Industries, Unidro and Econvert, will become a leading player in Industrial Water with a complete range of technologies and capacity to serve its customers worldwide, with combined annual revenues of about €200m today and the plan to exceed €300m by 2022.
Solid synergies are expected from the pooling of complementary technologies, client portfolios and geographical presences, while integration process will preserve entrepreneurial spirit and agility of the combined Industrial Water platform. In addition, the Group’s support will allow the combined Industrial Water platform to provide large long-term operation & maintenance (O&M) services, additional rental capabilities as well as financing solutions for its global industrial customers.
Nijhuis’ unique consultative approach and cutting-edge proprietary technologies, allowing efficient and sustainable water treatment and smart process monitoring and control, will strengthen Saur’s existing offering in the French municipal and industrial water market, while its international presence, with Sales & Services Centres in the Netherlands, the UK, Poland, Germany, Russia, the UAE, KSA, Singapore, Chile, Mexico and the USA, will represent a strong basis for an accelerated development of Saur in the international markets and a true cornerstone investment in Saur’s growth strategy.
Headquartered in the Netherlands, Nijhuis Industries is a provider of EPC turnkey solutions and systems, O&M services as well as rental solutions in the field of industrial water and wastewater treatment with more than 350 highly qualified employees worldwide and references in about 130 countries. Nijhuis has managed to double its revenues from 2017 to 2019 to €90m.
The company has a strong track record of serving blue chip clients in various market segments, including Food & Beverage, Personal Care & Pharmaceuticals, Refinery & Chemicals and Renewable Energy, Infrastructure & Utilities, with the aim to reduce environmental footprint, optimize reuse of water and heat, recover energy and resources helping their clients to stay compliant to the ever demanding effluent requirements and improving efficiency and productivity at the same time.
Together with Unidro’s and Econvert’s existing strong management teams, Menno Holterman, Nijhuis’ current CEO, will lead Saur Industrial Water division headquartered in the Netherlands, while Ronald Ruijtenberg, Nijhuis’ current CFO, will become the Industrial Water CFO.
With the support of Saur’s majority shareholder EQT, the acquisition was signed on 16th June 2020 and is expected to be completed in H2 2020 after customary antitrust clearance.
Patrick Blethon, Executive Chairman of Saur: “This acquisition is a key transforming milestone in the rollout of our strategy, as it decisively places Saur among the reference players on the global Industrial Water market. We will build up on the strong complementarities between Nijhuis Industries and the existing Saur Industry businesses, including Unidro and Econvert, to further expand our industrial footprint, and efficiently serve our industrial customers with increasingly innovative solutions, while defending water resources.”
Menno Holterman, CEO of Nijhuis Industries and future head of Saur Industrial Water: “Today marks a new step in Nijhuis’ long history of excellence and successful development. By partnering with Saur, we are renewing our technological edge for the coming years, ensuring our employees, clients and business partners with our reaffirmed commitment to strongly develop sustainable water use through innovation delivering solid and adaptative solutions for a sustainable and resilient future.”