thomas gruppe acquires Opterra Zement GmbH and Opterra Beton GmbH
The thomas group acquires Opterra Zement GmbH and Opterra Beton GmbH, two companies of the international CRH Group, at the end of 2022. This includes the Karsdorf plant, the decommissioned Sötenich plant and the Neufahrn ready-mix concrete plant.
With this acquisition, the family-owned company thomas is continuing its long-term growth course and is taking over not only enormous rock reserves but also an experienced team.
Karsdorf – “a unique opportunity”
“You don‘t often get an opportunity like taking over the cement plant in Karsdorf in your life,” says Managing Director Eckhardt Thomas, who is the second generation to run the thomas family business. Karsdorf, with its gigantic rock deposits, its market position of well over 1 million t of cement and its experienced team, enables the group of companies to better supply customers and leverage potential for improvement. In addition, Karsdorf has sufficient scale to introduce a technology in the long term together with Dorndorf, a clinker supplier, which will capture the CO2 produced in the cement production process in an ecologically and economically viable size. “We are convinced that cement will become a ‘clean’ building material and believe in its future.”
The cement division as a growth driver for the thomas gruppe
thomas gruppe is a family-run, medium-sized group of companies in the building materials sector with approximately 1200 employees and current sales of around € 360 million.
For years, the thomas gruppe has been pursuing a steady, long-term growth course in the cement, concrete components and ready-mix concrete segments. In the cement segment, the purchase of the Erwitte plant in 2017 significantly improved the competitive position. Together with the plant in Dorndorf, the Group has achieved significantly greater coverage in Germany and also in the Netherlands and has since benefited from synergy effects.
