London (UK) / Geleen (NL), March 10, 2025
Funds advised by Basalt Infrastructure Partners (“Basalt”) announced today that an agreement has been reached to form a new partnership with Circle Infra Partners (“Circle”, or the “Company”), owner and manager of critical shared infrastructure at the Chemelot chemical park in the Netherlands. The current shareholders of Circle – AnQore, Arlanxeo, Envalior, Fibrant and OCI – will transfer their shares to Basalt.
Circle is responsible for the operations and ownership of critical shared infrastructure on the Chemelot industrial park, including port infrastructure, rail, roads, sewers, real estate and the extensive wastewater treatment plant for 60 chemical plants. Circle is committed to support the chemical industry and Chemelot to produce safely, sustainably and efficiently, both now and in the future. Circularity, innovation, safety and sustainability are core pillars of Circle’s mission.
Chemelot is a world-class industrial park for the chemical sector, located in the south of The Netherlands. It is a closely knitted community housing the Brightlands research campus, over 200 companies, and 60 chemical plants across 880 hectares. With over 8,500 employees Chemelot is one of the pre-eminent economic hubs of the Netherlands.
In line with European ambitions, Chemelot has set out a strategy to transition into a circular and climate-neutral chemical site in 2050.
Christian Widdershoven, Chief Executive Officer, Circle Infra Partners, comments:
“Deeply rooted on the Chemelot industrial cluster, Circle Infra Partners is uniquely positioned to support the needs and ambitions of its customers in maintaining leading industry positions. Circle Infra Partners is committed to support the chemical industry as a strategic partner in the transition to renewable resources and circularity. At Circle, we always strive to reinforce and improve the offering to our customers. The new partnership with Basalt, who have significant experience in scaling infrastructure platforms, will offer us substantial opportunity to enhance our offering and support Chemelot to reach its sustainability goals.
We thank our former shareholders for the collaboration under their ownership and look forward to continue serving them as our customers. We welcome and are delighted to commence work with Basalt as new custodian of the business.”
Sjoerd Zuidema, Chief Executive Officer of AnQore, on behalf of the Shareholders:
“Chemelot aims to be a circular, sustainable and completely climate-neutral chemical site by 2050, with safety being at the heart of everything we do. On behalf of the former shareholders I would like to extend a warm welcome to Basalt, as the new owner of Circle, to the Chemelot community, and we strongly believe that under Basalt’s ownership Circle will continue to provide essential infrastructure services to all customers at Chemelot and unlock the necessary capabilities to further strengthen the safety and sustainability position of Chemelot, as well as those of the individual site users.”
John Hanna, Partner, Head of Europe, Basalt Infrastructure Partners, says:
“We have been following Circle’s impressive journey, and we believe it is an excellent complementary match for our strategy. We were attracted to Circle for its strong position and the opportunity to align its growth with the long-term partnerships with its customers at the Chemelot park. We look forward to our new partnership and working with Circle’s experienced management team on unlocking the Company’s full potential.”
Macquarie Capital is acting as financial adviser to Basalt and White & Case is acting as its legal adviser. Morgan Stanley is acting as financial adviser to selling shareholders and NautaDutilh is acting as legal adviser. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
About Circle
Circle Infra Partners owns and manages core infrastructure on the Chemelot industrial cluster. Circle is focused on operating and developing core infrastructure such as rail and harbour infrastructure, utilities including wastewater treatment, logistics, real estate and facility management. Safety, future-proofing, customer focus and efficiency are the guiding principles.
For more information, please visit www.circleinfrapartners.com
Media Contact: communications@circleinfra.com
About Basalt
Basalt is the investment advisor to the Basalt funds. The Basalt funds are infrastructure equity investment funds focusing on mid-market investments in utilities, power, transportation, and communications infrastructure in North America and Europe. Other investments by the Basalt funds in Europe include Vanadis LNG, Reconor Group, Wightlink, Mareccio Energia, Caronte & Tourist, Manx Telecom, Connect Fibre, Iris, Unilode, Goetel, Freya LNG and Nobina.
For more information, please visit www.basaltinfra.com
Media Contact: press@basaltinfra.com