India’s second largest refractory maker Dalmia-OCL, part of Dalmia Group has announced its first-ever overseas acquisition of GSB Group-GmBH – a German specialty refractory maker. The deal has been finalised for 15 million Euros (which comes to around INR 122 crore). With this acquisition, the company has entered the European market and has also got access to the technology to make cleaner steel.
Refractories are primary heat-resistant material used by the steel industry in internal linings of furnaces used for steel production, in the vessels for holding and transporting metal and slag, in furnaces for heating steel before further processing, and in the flues or stacks through which hot gases are conducted. This material is also used in the manufacturing of cement, copper, aluminum etc.
Dalmia-OCL is India’s second-largest refractory company of India with a production capacity of 250,000 tonne a year. The company expects revenue of INR 800 crore this year, 60% of which is likely to be contributed by the steel segment.
Gsb Group is a global leader in lance production, essential for producing clean steel of good quality. The company has two manufacturing plants at Bochum (Germany) and Bhilai (India).
The management of Dalmia-OCL is hopeful that amid the ambitious target of the Indian steel industry to produce 300 MnT of steel by 2030 the demand for refractories will definitely grow in the coming future. The company is also targeting the growing consumption of high-grade steel in various sectors including automobile and home appliances industry.
India’s refractory industry is quite minuscule as its capacity stands at 1.5 MnT and is subsequently dependent on imports from China for raw-material procurement. The Indian refractory manufacturers are thus eyeing acquisitions in the foreign market in order to reduce the dependency on imports.
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