Belgium: Saint-Gobain says that it has entered into exclusive negotiations with Ponsardin Industries for the sale of SFIC Belgium, a specialist construction materials distribution business of gypsum wallboard, insulation and ceilings. The Belgium-based business has forecast sales of €75m in 2025, has 123 employees and it operates a network of 10 branches. The transaction is subject to the completion of an ‘information and consultation procedure’ with the relevant employee representative bodies. The divestment is expected to be finalised by the end of 2025. No value for the transaction has been disclosed.

Finland: Knauf Oy is preparing to electrify the calcination process at its Kankaanpää gypsum wallboard plant. An electrified hybrid dryer was installed at the site in 2024. Now, four new 2MW heaters is scheduled to be added in the summer of 2026. The cost of the project will be around €5m. Knauf recently released its new LOWR product line, where boards are dried with an electrified plasterboard dryer using 100% renewable electricity.

Canada: France-based Saint-Gobain has inaugurated its CertainTeed gypsum wallboard plant in Sainte-Catherine, near Montreal. The unit is fully electrified and powered by hydroelectricity. The company says that the site is the first zero-carbon (scope 1 and 2) wallboard plant in North America and the largest in the world to be fully powered by electricity. The launch of a new production line at the existing plant, along with equipment modernisation, has enabled a 40% increase in production capacity while reducing energy consumption by 30% and CO₂ emissions by approximately 44,000t/yr.

Mark Rayfield, CEO Saint-Gobain North America said “This ambitious project strengthens our leadership position in light construction in Canada and meets the strong local demand for sustainable solutions. It accelerates our growth in the country, where we have tripled in size in three years.”

The upgraded wallboard plant is the group’s second after the one in Fredrikstad, Norway that was inaugurated in 2023.

India: Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers says it has received approval from the Kochi bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for a debt resolution plan for FACT-RCF, a joint-venture that it runs with Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore, according to the Business Standard newspaper. The plan reportedly includes debt restructuring, transfer of assets including a plant to an asset reconstruction company and the possibility of reopening the business through the inclusion of new investors.

FACT-RCF Building Products was set up to manufacture gypsum-based building materials as a by-product using raw material from Rashtriya Chemicals’ plant. However, the joint venture made a loss, defaulted on loans of around US$2.5m and the manufacturing unit was shut down in 2019.