Ceratizit acquires AgriCarb, producer of agricultural wear parts

Ceratizit S.A., part of the Plansee Group, has acquired all shares of AgriCarb SAS. Both sides have agreed not to disclose the financial details of the transaction.

The privately owned company based in Meyzieu near Lyon, France, has been a global leader in the field of tungsten carbide agricultural wear parts for more than 35 years. According to Ceratizit, AgriCarb products for soil and vineyard tillage stand out for their quality and achieve a service life of 3 to 7 times longer than that of conventional steel products.

The acquisition of AgriCarb is an important part of Ceratizit's growth and sustainability strategy, said Dr. Andreas Lackner, a member of Ceratizit's executive board. "We want to become the leader in sustainability for the hard metal and cutting tool industry by 2025. The acquisition of AgriCarb helps us to reach this goal."

Making agriculture more sustainableWith increasing restrictions on the use of herbicides in agriculture, the mechanical removal of weeds is coming more and more into focus.

"AgriCarb offers a wide variety of carbide tools for these and other applications in agriculture. In combination with their focus on premium products, the company is a perfect fit to our overall strategy and corporate culture," said executive board member Frank Thomé.

The experience of the French company also offers Ceratizit the opportunity to enter new markets. ‘With a high degree of added value and expertise in the field of hybrid tools made of steel and tungsten carbide, AgriCarb is an ideal technological complement to our Hard Material Solutions Division," said Thomé.

The previous managing director and co-owner, Lionel Curtat, who will accompany the integration into the Hard Material Solutions Division, said, "I am very pleased to have found a buyer in Ceratizit, whose worldwide distribution network and unique know-how in the manufacturing of hard metals can help AgriCarb to achieve higher market penetration and further growth."

Intermetallic compound consisting of equal parts, by atomic weight, of tungsten and carbon. Sometimes tungsten carbide is used in reference to the cemented tungsten carbide material with cobalt added and/or with titanium carbide or tantalum carbide added. Thus, the tungsten carbide may be used to refer to pure tungsten carbide as well as co-bonded tungsten carbide, which may or may not contain added titanium carbide and/or tantalum carbide.