Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

US: Owens Corning has launched an offer to exchange any and all outstanding 3.5% senior notes due 2030 issued by Masonite International Corporation for new notes to be issued by Owens Corning. Masonite is currently soliciting consents to adopt proposed amendments to the indenture governing its existing notes, aiming to eliminate certain covenants, restrictive provisions and events of default from the indenture.

The parties agreed to Owens Corning’s acquisition of Masonite in February 2024, and expect to complete the deal in mid-2024.

Germany: EU competition authorities have approved Ireland-based Kingspan’s acquisition of a 51% majority stake in wood fibre insulation producer Steico. Kingspan concluded the deal with wood products company Schramek in July 2023, and expects to complete its acquisition of the stake in early January 2024.

Denmark: Saint-Gobain’s subsidiaries Isover and Leca have started an agreement with waste management company Norrecco to recycle glass wool insulation. Under the new system, contractors will be able to return used and excess Isover glass wool to Norrecco's waste treatment stations at Prøvestenen in Copenhagen and at Agerskov in Southern Jutland. Norrecco will then pass the glass wool to Leca Denmark’s plant at Hinge near Randers. Here it will be used as a raw material in the production of lightweight expanded clay aggregate (LWA) products. LWA is used in a variety of applications such as insulation or as a structural filler. Leca added that LWA can be recycled repeatedly.

Mona Ammitzbøll Rasmussen, the Sustainability Engineer at Saint-Gobain Denmark, said "From the moment our glass wool leaves the factory, we want to support the idea that the material will one day return and be used in the production of new insulation materials, rather than ending up in landfills. It is an unnecessary waste that we need to eliminate as soon as possible."

Leca Denmark has the capacity to accept around 1000t/yr of used or excess glass wool from the Danish market. The company said that, although it represents a small portion of the total production, it reduces the need to extract a corresponding amount of natural clay, which is the primary raw material in its Leca LWA product. Isover is also working on publishing guides to better help contractors sort between the different types of mineral wool to assess purity ahead of potential recycling.

Europe: Knauf Insulation has joined Daikin, Danfoss, Rockwool, Saint-Gobain, Signify and Velux to promote building energy efficiency in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The six companies have signed a memorandum that commits them to work together to encourage cooperation and allocation of ‘personal and financial resources’ on a country level to establish and maintain national associations equipped with the expertise to engage in public debates effectively and the skills to inspire better policies.

Radek Bedrna, Knauf Insulation’s managing director for Eastern Europe and Middle East, said “This memorandum is a powerful commitment to tackle the building and energy challenges facing CEE. It will provide the campaigning initiatives with the needed support to drive the policy changes that will be transformational for building renovation in the region.” He added that the region has five out of seven European Union (EU) countries with the highest gas saving potential arising from insulating residential buildings. Two thirds of the 43.6m homes in single- and multi-family house in the CEE region were reportedly built before 1989 and are energy inefficient.

The companies signed the document at the Central and Eastern European Energy Efficiency Forum (C4E) in late May 2023. The forum, which brought together more than 240 public authority representatives with advocacy groups, non-government organisations (NGO) and private companies, called on policy makers to roll out well-designed subsidy schemes with a long-term outlook.

South Korea: KCC has signed a memorandum of understanding with the local government in Gimcheon concerning an upgrade to its glass wool plant. The company plans to invest around US$75m on building a second production line at the unit by the end of 2023. The project follows a similar upgrade at the Munmak glass wool plant in 2022.

Hungary/Serbia: Building products producer Masterplast and construction company Market Epito have entered into a strategic cooperation agreement to build mineral wool plants in Central Europe to meet anticipated demand for insulation. Plans for a first plant to be built in either Hungary or Serbia could be finalised in the first quarter of 2023. Joint-venture companies will be set-up on a 50:50 basis to support the new plants. As part of the deal, both companies would endeavour to purchase mineral wool from the new production units where possible for Market Epito’s construction projects and Masterplast’s commercial activities. The companies also hope to use public funding to support the building of new plants due to their importance to the national economy.

US: Owens Corning has agreed to sell the site of its Santa Clara, California, insulation plant to property company Panattoni Development. Local Press has reported that the plant’s closure ‘on or around’ 31 October 2022 will result in the loss of 225 jobs.

Belarus: Gomelstroymaterialy has entered talks with the administration of St Petersburg’s Krasnogvardeyski District over the possible start of exports of insulation and wall panels to the Russian population centre. Business World Magazine has reported that construction, especially of social facilities, is also an area in which the local government officials say they would like to advance cross-border cooperation.

Belgium: Plastics producer Greiner has offered to fully acquire Recticel for Euro1.17bn, including debt. Austria-based Greiner currently holds a 27% stake in the company. The group has valued Recticel’s insulation business at Euro411m. However, Recticel has said that the offer undervalues the division. US-based foam and fibres producer Carpenter previously valued the insulation business at Euro656m in its on-going bid to acquire the company’s engineered foams unit.

Recticel has until 17 December 2021 to issue its decision on the Greiner offer. Before then, it will decide on the possible sale of its engineered foams unit to Carpenter at an extraordinary general meeting. It is currently carrying out due diligence checks for the latter deal.

Norway: Bewi’s shareholders have voted in favour of the company’s acquisition of the remaining 50% of Jackon Holding in order to become sole owner. Bewi will hold an extraordinary general meeting following the completion of due diligence checks to authorise the issuance of Bewi shares as consideration for the deal to Jackon Holdings’ controlling shareholder Haas.