When it was founded in 1876, Ackermans & van Haaren was a contractor for maritime infrastructure works, with a strong focus on dredging activities. This sector is capital-intensive and cyclical in nature, which soon made the founders aware of the importance of diversification.
As early as the final decade of the 19th century, the families and the company had acquired significant interests in other businesses, although dredging activities remained the main focus. After both the First and Second World Wars, Ackermans & van Haaren was able to play an important role in reconstruction as a contractor for maritime infrastructure works. The company benefited fully from the growing maritime orientation of the Belgian economy and the globalization of the world economy.
Dredging International
There was always a region where demand for dredging services was experiencing a strong surge: Europe in the 1960s, the Middle East in the following decade. As these activities grew, so too did the required investments. It was partly from this perspective that, in 1974, the dredging activities of Ackermans & van Haaren and CFE (Société Générale de Dragage) were merged and transferred to a new company: Dredging International. Ackermans & van Haaren was thus no longer a 100% dredging company, but a shareholder in a dredging company.
In 1984, Ackermans & van Haaren and CFE each owned 44.42% of Dredging International; the remaining 11.16% was held by the Decloedt family, which also had its own dredging company, Baggerwerken Decloedt. Two years earlier, the global market for dredging activities had collapsed. The Iranian Revolution decimated orders in the Gulf states, the West was in the grip of a severe recession, and the Asian market was still of limited significance. The 1982 crisis was also prolonged and marked the beginning of a major wave of consolidation that would last more than twenty years. As one of the healthier companies in the sector, Ackermans & van Haaren sought to strengthen its position even during the difficult 1980s through further diversification.
When the first signs of recovery became clear, the company was the first to act to reinforce Dredging International’s operational strength. In 1989, Ackermans & van Haaren and CFE acquired Decloedt’s stake in Dredging International, giving each a 50% shareholding.
DEME
In April 1991, Dredging International and Baggerwerken Decloedt combined their activities as contractors in dredging, hydraulic engineering and environmental technologies and transferred them to DEME Group. DEME stands for Dredging, Environmental and Marine Engineering.
In 2013, Ackermans & van Haaren transferred its stake in DEME to CFE and acquired 60% of the shares in CFE, thereby gaining indirect control of DEME in addition to its direct participation in CFE.
In 2022, CFE transferred its 100% interest in DEME to a new company, and CFE shareholders received shares in DEME, which was listed as a separate company on Euronext Brussels. The “former” CFE was thus split into two separate listed groups: (i) on the one hand, the industrial group CFE, with strong market positions in contracting and real estate development in Belgium, Luxembourg and Poland, and (ii) on the other hand, DEME, a global dredging and marine engineering group. Ackermans & van Haaren remained the majority shareholder of both listed companies, with a shareholding of 62%. Ackermans & van Haaren is convinced that this structure enables CFE and DEME to focus more effectively on pursuing their own strategic objectives. Moreover, the separate listing of both companies contributes to greater focus and transparency vis-à-vis shareholders and financial markets, and allows the market to fully assess the value potential of both groups.
