K+S acquires Qemetica’s salt business for up to 380 million euros
K+S is tapping into new growth opportunities in Central and Eastern Europe with specialty salts for water softening and the food industry
The K+S Group acquires Qemetica’s salt business. The salt and fertilizer producer based in Kassel (Germany) is purchasing two evaporated salt production sites in Stassfurt (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) and Janikowo (Poland) from the Polish chemical company. Thereby, K+S is further expanding its own European salt business and opening up additional growth potential in Central and Eastern Europe.
The purchase price was agreed at €350 million, plus a performance bonus of up to €30 million, depending on the business performance of Qemetica’s existing salt business in 2026 and 2027 (purchase price/EBITDA: approx. 7-times). In 2025, the business unit employed about 400 employees. Revenues amounted to approximately €125 million, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) to just under €50 million.
“Our European salt business is operating in a market environment that has recently improved significantly. We are generating stable revenues that make a reliable contribution to K+S’s business success,” explains K+S CEO Dr. Christian H. Meyer. “The acquisition of Qemetica’s two evaporated salt sites offers us an opportunity to further expand our salt business within Europe. At the same time, this opens up good additional growth potential for us in Central and Eastern Europe.”
An ideal addition to the existing portfolio
The two Qemetica sites focus on the production of specialty salts, for example for water softening and the food industry. “This represents an ideal expansion of our existing portfolio. We look forward to welcoming our new colleagues in Stassfurt and Janikowo to the K+S family soon,” explains K+S CEO Meyer.
“We are placing our salt business, which we have developed intensively and successfully over the past few years, in good hands,” says Qemetica CEO Kamil Majczak. The transaction enables Qemetica to unlock capital and allocate it for strategic areas. Majczak: “This marks the end of an era and the beginning of a new chapter, as we are establishing our new Resource Recovery unit, through which energy recovery from waste becomes one of the pillars of Qemetica Group’s growth.”
Financing and valuation of the transaction
K+S is evaluating various financing and capital market instruments to fund the purchase price for the acquisition and to optimize the Group’s financing structure. The timing, implementation, and structure of such financing depend primarily on developments in the capital market environment and financing conditions. “If no financing has been secured at the time of the closing, which we expect in the first quarter of 2027, we can draw on existing liquidity and firmly committed credit lines and, if necessary, refinance at a later date,” explains CFO Dr. Jens Christian Keuthen. “It was important to us that the multiple underlying the purchase price, that is, the ratio of purchase price to earnings contribution, and K+S’s market valuation be closely aligned. We also ensured that the debt ratio, that is, net debt to EBITDA, remained largely unchanged, as the purchase price is offset by a correspondingly stable contribution to earnings.”
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