Carmeuse is active in all lime-related end markets in the United States and Canada.

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Creating synergy in the complex business of limestone, lime and industrial sands production is a difficult under­taking, but one that Carmeuse CEO Thomas Buck knows a lot about. The story of Carmeuse’s evolution in the North American marketplace is ­es­s­entially a lesson in survival and business savvy.

Carmeuse Lime & Stone and Carmeuse Industrial Sands are subsidiaries of the Belgium-based parent company, The Carmeuse Group S.A., a privately held firm founded in 1860. For the Carmeuse Group to be a leader in the limestone and lime business, it had to have access to the largest markets in the world, which brought them to North America in 1992.

After establishing a corporate office in Chicago, it began acquiring several lime com­panies including Beachville Lime Ltd., Marblehead Lime Inc., Pennsylvania Lime Inc., Prem­ier Lime Inc., and North­ern Lime Ltd. “From Car­meuse’s en­try into the North American market until 1997, they grew their revenues from basically nothing to $180 million,” Buck says.

In 1998, Carmeuse made a strategic move when it joint-ventured in North America with Lafarge S.A., a world leader in construction materials. The partnership fos­tered further growth by adding to Lafarge’s North American lime production capacity and related revenues and allowed for the acquisition of the Pitts­burgh -based Dravo. Following the Dravo acquisition, Carmeuse actively part­icipated in all lime-related end-markets in the United States and Canada.

Things Get Rocky
In the eight years following its entry into the North American marketplace, Carmeuse grew its revenues quickly in trying to consolidate the marketplace – perhaps too quickly. According to Buck, it lacked the management team and wherewithal to properly manage all of its newly acquired assets.

In 2000, Buck was brought on board to help consolidate the North American op­er­ations. “By 2001, we were clearly struggling, and these were very difficult financial times for us,” he notes. “There was next to zero cash being spent on operations, and this is a very capital-intensive business. Our assets were in disrepair and we hadn’t put together the hu­man assets to run the business.”

To compound its problems, 9/11 put the company into a tailspin. “We had 10 major steel customers file for bankruptcy,” Buck says.

Emerging a Leader
How exactly Buck and his management team pulled the business out of dire straights could serve as an example for businesses in similar situations. First, Buck says, “We had to shrink the business in order to grow the business.” From mid-2001 to 2003, Carmeuse went from 21 production plants to 14, simultaneously shedding 500 staff while adding about 140 professional engineers and managers to strengthen the leadership team.

Under the direction of strong global and local leadership, it incorporated systematic business management methods and dis­ciplines in an effort to make its remaining facilities more cost-effective and efficient, which they eventually succeeded at doing. In 2002, dual offices in Chicago and Pittsburgh were combined into a single corporate office in Pittsburgh.

“We went back to the basics,” Buck says. “We focused on really running and restructuring the business, and we were able to make a massive turnaround.” In 2005, following its improved performance and resting on about $500 million in revenues, Carmeuse bought out Lafarge’s interest in its North Amer­ican business.

The firm then set its sights on a five-year plan to grow into a $1 billion company, diverse enough so that no one market segment would account for more than 33 percent of the business. “Our game plan was to accomplish that by having 75 percent of the growth come through acquisitions and mergers and 25 percent from organic growth,” Buck explains. In July 2006, Carmeuse ac­quired Wisconsin-based Rockwell Lime.

After an unsuccessful bid to acquire Franklin Industries in 2006, Carmeuse’s management team was dealing with major disappointment, but it wouldn’t last long. “I have been raised to believe that one door doesn’t close without an­other one opening,” Buck says. So when Oglebay Norton placed itself on the market in 2007, Carmeuse’s team organized its thoughts and seized the opportunity.

“In one move, what that did was allow us to hit every one of our targets in terms of revenue, geographic and market diversity,” he continues. “It afforded us the opportunity to have control over raw materials in six facilities around the Great Lakes. Up until that point, we were de­pendent on others for raw materials. It’s very seldom that you see an ac­quisition target align so well with management’s strategy.”

In February 2008, Carmeuse took control of Oglebay Norton and successfully integrated it into one single company, aside from the industrial sands division, which it will begin integrating in January 2010. Year-to-date, Carmeuse is at $900 million in revenues.