NEXTCHEM Acquires Ballestra Group to Improve Sustainable Fertilizer and Specialty Chemical Improvements

MAIRE has introduced that its subsidiary NEXTCHEM has entered right into a binding settlement to amass 100% of the share capital of Ballestra Group, a globally acknowledged supplier of proprietary applied sciences, plant licensing, engineering providers, and specialised gear for the chemical and fertilizer industries. The transaction represents a strategic step ahead for NEXTCHEM, considerably broadening its expertise portfolio and strengthening its presence in sustainable and specialty chemical markets.

Established in 1960 and headquartered in Milan, Ballestra S.p.A. serves because the holding firm for a diversified worldwide group that features BUSS ChemTech AG in Switzerland and Ballestra Engineering and Tasks Pvt. Ltd. in India. Collectively, the group operates throughout greater than 120 international locations, employs roughly 450 individuals, and maintains workplaces all through Europe and Asia. Ballestra helps a powerful and diversified base of blue-chip shoppers and has demonstrated its technological management by way of the profitable set up of greater than 6,400 crops worldwide.

A defining energy of Ballestra Group lies in its intensive mental property portfolio and deep analysis and growth capabilities. These are constantly bolstered by way of proprietary pilot crops positioned in Italy and Switzerland, which act as innovation hubs for testing, validating, and scaling up new industrial processes earlier than business deployment.

Ballestra has constructed a long-standing popularity within the detergents, surfactants, and oleochemicals segments, offering superior options to chemical producers in addition to main FMCG corporations. Its actions span expertise licensing, detailed engineering providers, and the provision of proprietary gear marketed underneath the well-known Mazzoni title. This gear is manufactured and assembled at Ballestra’s personal manufacturing amenities in Busto Arsizio, Italy, guaranteeing high quality management and technological consistency.

Past detergents, Ballestra’s chemical substances division performs a crucial position within the growth of superior applied sciences for sulfuric and phosphoric acid manufacturing. These acids are important inputs for phosphate-based options, NPK fertilizers, and different specialty fertilizer merchandise. The addition of Ballestra’s phosphate, sulfur, and potassium-based fertilizer applied sciences meaningfully expands NEXTCHEM’s providing, complementing its current capabilities in nitrogen-based fertilizers and enabling a extra full nutrient expertise portfolio.

BUSS ChemTech, acquired by Ballestra in 2021, additional enhances the group’s technological breadth. The Swiss subsidiary is a worldwide chief in fluorine derivatives and gas-liquid response processing crops. Notably, hexafluorophosphate applied sciences developed by BUSS ChemTech are crucial for photo voltaic cell manufacturing, lithium-ion batteries, and specialty gases utilized in fashionable energy grid upgrades—key enablers of worldwide electrification. The corporate can be energetic in pyrolysis applied sciences designed to recycle hard-to-process plastic waste, contributing to round economic system initiatives and industrial decarbonization.

By this acquisition, NEXTCHEM good points entry to a sturdy suite of proprietary applied sciences spanning potassium, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphate worth chains, whereas additionally supporting purposes in electrification, recycling, emissions discount, and vitality effectivity. The deal additionally creates vital cross-selling alternatives with MAIRE’s Built-in Engineering & Development Companies division, leveraging Ballestra’s robust business backlog and execution observe document.

As of the tip of September 2025, Ballestra’s consolidated backlog stood at €275 million and is predicted to exceed €315 million by year-end. Full-year 2025 revenues are projected at roughly €235 million. The transaction values Ballestra at an enterprise worth of €108.3 million. Primarily based on an adjusted consolidated web money place of €18.2 million as of December 31, 2024, the implied buy value is roughly €126.5 million. The acquisition will probably be financed by way of a mix of obtainable money and credit score amenities and is predicted to shut within the first half of 2026, topic to customary circumstances.

Commenting on the transaction, Alessandro Bernini, CEO of MAIRE, acknowledged that the acquisition aligns completely with the group’s strategic plan, reinforcing NEXTCHEM’s mission to allow decarbonization by way of proprietary applied sciences whereas increasing into high-growth finish markets pushed by electrification, recycling, and effectivity enhancements.