ORAFOL acquires stake in Belgian speciality film manufacturer Group M.A.M.
02 November 2024: ORAFOL has acquired a stake in the Belgian speciality film manufacturer Group Michiels Advanced Materials (Group M.A.M.), intending to take over 100% of the company in the coming years. ORAFOL says it is integrating new technology into the company and significantly expanding its product portfolio in climate protection solutions. Following the acquisition of the American start-up company NUPRO LLC in 2021, this investment marks another milestone for ORAFOL
“With this acquisition, we are laying the next cornerstone for the sustainable development of ORAFOL in Oranienburg and worldwide. At the same time, this step underlines our claim as a European high-tech company to be a leader in the future markets of our industry. Against the backdrop of climate change, the consistent use of highly developed spectrally selective films will contribute to efficiently reducing CO2 emissions in various sectors,” says Dr Holger Loclair, Chairman & CEO of ORAFOL Group.
With the construction of Hall 10 at its headquarters in Oranienburg, the company has laid the foundations for processing these special films from Q2/2025. The aim is to achieve the widest possible coating widths, maximum precision of the layers, and very high room cleanliness requirements during production. As a first step, ORAFOL offers new solar protection films for buildings and vehicles for indoor and outdoor use. In the second step, the portfolio will be expanded to include solutions for greenhouses. Depending on the customer’s requirements, the films are either barely visible or dark tinted.
“The unique combined product properties for solar heat reduction in summer and thermal insulation in winter make our speciality films high-performance solutions for energy management and our company a close partner for architects, contractors and building owners. Together with ORAFOL, we are creating the opportunity to offer our highly developed technology to a global market.” says Luc Michiels, CEO of Group M.A.M.
ORAFOL has traditionally focused on acquiring technologies to sustainably expand the depth of added value within the ORAFOL Group. Like every acquisition since ORAFOL was founded, this one aims to be the technological leader in the market.
Group M.A.M.’s technology focus is on metal sputtering. This technology can be used to equip films with spectrally selective properties. Films with these properties have been developed for building and automotive glazing as well as greenhouses to minimise heat input indoors. In buildings or vehicles equipped with these solar control films, air conditioning systems require less energy to cool. Energy requirements, and therefore also CO2 emissions, can be significantly reduced with these films.
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