Andus Group welcomes Gilde Equity Management as shareholder

Vianen – Andus Group, an internationally active holding company with 14 leading and independent subsidiaries, spread across Refractories, Steel Structures and Specialties divisions, welcomes Gilde Equity Management (GEM) as shareholder.

For Tom van Rijn, founder and major shareholder of Andus Group, this represents the next step in his business succession. He stepped down from the day-to-day management of the Andus Group in 2018 and has scaled down his responsibilities within it. The current management of Andus Group will stay on and continue its day-to-day management.

Chairman of the Board, Wiebe van den Elshout, is grateful to Tom van Rijn for his huge contribution during the past 25 years and welcomes the current collaboration with Gilde. “Over 100 years of experience underscore the strong position that Andus Group has built up worldwide within the industry. We are a strong, reliable partner for our clients and we work to the highest safety and quality standards. After our success in recent years, Andus Group now finds itself on the cusp of our next growth phase. In Gilde, we have found an ambitious partner that matches our entrepreneurial group culture. Gilde can help us with further investments in the expansion of our services and the acceleration of our international growth ambitions.”

Bas Glas, Partner at Gilde Equity Management says that Gilde is proud to fuel this business succession. “We recognize the strength of the Andus Group, how essential its products and services are to its clients and how well positioned it is to flourish in future. We are looking forward to this collaboration and the further international growth of Andus Group and we have every confidence in the strategy that has been defined.”

About Andus Group

Andus Group is a strong, internationally active holding company with independent subsidiaries in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Slovakia and Sweden. With a workforce of more than 650 employees, these subsidiaries realize a total turnover of approximately € 250 million.

The Andus Group’s subsidiaries are divided across three divisions: Refractories, Steel Structures and Specialties. Within each division, the focus is on the end user in market segments that include: waste-to-energy, wind energy, petrochemicals, civil engineering, offshore oil & gas, the pharmaceutical industry and mechanical engineering. For many years now these subsidiaries have enabled Andus Group to create added value for its clients. This value is added in areas that include engineering, production and installation of high-quality refractory bricks and concrete, bridge-building, locks and complex, heavy steel structures, the manufacture of stainless steel and high-grade alloy process equipment, the design and production of platforms for the offshore industry and the manufacture of high-value industrial castings used in mechanical engineering and the dredging industry.

Refractories

In this division are the companies that operate worldwide in the high-value refractory market. Their activities relate to engineering, the production and delivery of refractory bricks, castables, concrete and service and maintenance work for a wide range of industrial refractory linings, applications and processes. Thanks to the high quality they provide and their reliability of delivery, the position of Refractories companies in the (primary) aluminum, waste-to-energy and petrochemical markets is both renowned and firmly anchored, all over the world. Refractories recently strengthened its position in Scandinavia. In addition to the foundation of Gouda Refractories Nordic AB, it also acquired the Industri-Eldfast AB refractory installation company in Sweden.

Steel Structures

The companies in this division focus on the design, engineering, production and delivery of multidisciplinary steel construction projects for the (petro)chemical and heavy industries, as well as for the energy market, such as transformer platforms for offshore wind energy and oil and gas platforms. In the offshore wind sector, HSM Offshore, one of the companies in this division, is regarded as one of the most progressive platform builders in the world. The first large offshore transformer platforms in the offshore wind energy sector in the Netherlands (Borssele Alpha and Beta from TenneT) were built by HSM Offshore. Companies in the division also build large infrastructure projects, such as steel bridges and lock complexes.

Specialties

This division comprises companies engaged in the provision of industrial castings, such as pump housings for the dredging industry, large castings used in mechanical engineering and special projects for railways and public spaces. They are also active in the design, production and installation of stainless-steel process equipment, beer-tank installations and beer-delivery trucks.

For more information, please visit https://www.andusgroup.com/.

About Gilde Equity Management

Gilde Equity Management (GEM) is an independent private equity firm with €1.5 billion in committed capital. Since its foundation in the mid-1990s, GEM has been a leading investor in medium-sized companies and has helped many of them to realize (international) growth. Examples of GEM investments include: Dunlop, a leading manufacturer of safety boots for industrial applications; Fruityline, a fast-growing producer of freshly squeezed premium fruit and vegetable juices and smoothies; Wasco, a technical wholesaler active in the area of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and sanitary facilities; Actief Interim, one of the biggest independent employment agencies in Benelux and Germany serving the SME sector; Eiffel, a consultancy firm with expertise in Legal, Finance and Process; and Kwantum & Leen Bakker, discount retailers in the Dutch and Belgian home-furnishing and decoration sector.

For more information, please visit https://www.gembenelux.com/.