LKAB Minerals to acquire Francis Flower
12.11.2018
Jan Moström, LKAB CEO
Source: LKAB
LKAB Minerals will, subject to merger clearance, complete a cash deal transaction, acquiring full ownership of Francis Flower. The acquisition of the company operating as “Francis Flower” encompasses the acquisition of two legal entities: Francis Flower (Northern) Limited and Gurney Slade Lime & Stone Co. Limited. “Acquiring Francis Flower accelerates our growth within the Industrial Minerals market. An increase of iron ore production is one building block in LKAB’s growth plan, but growing our other businesses is equally as important to create a better balance between our divisions, something that makes us less sensitive to the iron ore market volatility, which strengthens LKAB” says LKAB CEO Jan Moström.
Besides that, there are other strategic components to the acquisition, explains Jan Moström “Bringing in Francis Flower’s business into ours, creates a form of circular economy, as there is a strong link to LKAB’s iron ore business. The largest product area for Francis Flower is recycling blast furnace slag from the steel industry for production of Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag (GGBS), a sustainable product that can replace 70 % of Portland Cement in a concrete mix delivering decreased CO2 emissions.”