Praedium, the Spanish investment Group which owns Nylstar, a producer of polyamide yarns and fabrics, has acquired acrylic fibre manufacturer Montefibre Hispania SA.
Praedium has invested €2 million to acquire a 90 per cent stake in Montefibre, which is based in Burgos, Spain, while the rest of the stake will remain with promoters of Montefibre.
“Alfonso Cirera, chairman of Praedium has been named president of Montefibre, while Rovira will continue to remain as CEO,” a Praedium press release informed.
As a strategy, Praedium plans to revive the Leacril brand and thereby ensure the continuity and viability of its investment in the Spanish plant in the future.
In the first phase, Praedium will restart the acrylic plant and relaunch its commercial network and in the second stage, through strategic partners, it will invest €100 million to set up a carbon fibre business.
With the reopening of the acrylic plant, Montefibre will once again market its Leacril brand, known in more than 48 countries and one of its most valuable assets.
Praedium said it was also able to revive the Meryl brand of Nylstar, within 18 months of taking over the company.
“As a result of which, Meryl is being used again in more than 200 apparel brands, mainly in the women’s and sportswear markets,” it added.
Montefibre is expected to produce 45,600 annual tons of acrylic fibre which is planned to be sold to over 210 customers in 30 countries and generate annual revenues of €110 million.
Alfonso Cirera said, “Montefibre will focus on the Leacril brand with a focus on added-value products and all in all, we want to build a long term sustainable project as we have the experience as well as the will."
In the second phase, Montefibre will set up a carbon fibre business, for which the group is seeking strategic partners in each of the fields of application like infrastructure, automotive, wind power, naval and defense.
Montefibre has its own technology for the production of carbon fibre from acrylic and plans to allocate part of the capacity to produce 3,000 annual tons of industrial quality carbon fibre.
Praedium specialises in investments in various business areas such as real estate, logistic platforms for e-commerce and shops.
It’s most significant investment is in the fashion industry, where it is present through Nylstar and its most ambitious project - Nylstar Fashion Group.
