K+S adds salt assets

Kassel, Germany — K+S Aktiengesellschaft unit European Salt Co. GmbH & Co. (esco) has taken over the Czech salt processing company Solné Mlýny a.s. (SMO). esco is acquiring SMO from the Czech trading group EQUUS, which has been undergoing insolvency proceedings since mid-2010. SMO is a major supplier of salt products in the Czech Republic and also operates in other European markets. The purchase price is in the mid-single-digit million euro range. SMO has been operating the salt processing business in the eastern Czech city of Olomouc since 1921 and currently employs about 70 people. Particularly in the table salt segment, the company has a brand that is well known nationwide and enjoys a high level of recognition, and is established in the market with a wide product range of food grade, industrial, and de-icing salts. In a normal year, SMO sells around 100,000 mt of its various salt products, and has until now been one of esco’s customers in the important Czech market. esco is responsible for the European salt business within the Salt business segment of the K+S Group. esco has three rock salt mines, two brine plants, and several plants processing evaporated salt in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain, and has numerous distribution sites. Its annual production capacity is about 9.7 million mt of crystallized salt and salt in brine per year.