Coeclerici enters German coal market, acquires Dako Coal

Coeclerici have acquired German company Dako Coal with a 100% stake in the company. Dako Coal specialises in trading and developing new technologies for solid fuels, particularly pet coke and coal.

Coeclerici have made the purchase in order to gain a foothold in the German market, which offers significant growth prospects due to an agreement between the German Government and the EU, which will see the last remaining productive coal mines in the country close by 2018. This could lead to an estimated increase in coal exports to Germany of 14 million tpa.

New coal technologies

Coeclerici will now also benefit from new technologies developed by Dako Coal. The company is developing new technologies that will be used to support the pulverised pet coke and coal industries.

Dako coal recently filed a patent at the German Patent Office (GPO) for a new technology that would replace 25% of the traditional foundry coke used in industry cupola ovens with pulverised pet coke mixed with oxygen, which cuts both costs and environmental impact.

Paulo Clerici, chairman and CEO of Coeclerici, said “The acquisition of Dako Coal in Germany is a significant achievement from a strategic point of view, because it will allow the Group to strengthen its presence in Europe and to monitor the German market, which continues to offer potential for growth and development in the solid fuel sector.”

European market

In 2012, Dako Coal’s turnover amounted to over €17.5 million, 71% of which came from operations in Germany in the steel works and cement sectors. The remaining 29% was accounted for by sales in the Netherlands, UK, France, China, Austria, Belgium and Denmark.

Dako Coal

Rudolf Damm founded Dako Coal in 1949. The company originally operated in the mining sector, with 19 fully owned coal mines located around Dortmund. Following the closure of the mines between the late 1970s and early 80s, the company began concentrating efforts on trading in solid fuels.

More recently, Dako Coal has specialised in the trading of pulverised pet coke and coal, mainly used by steelworks and cement factories in Germany and the rest of Europe, as well as of the more common traditional pet coke, anthracite and high-calorific coal.

Edited from various sources by Sam Dodson

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/coal/06092013/coeclerici_buys_dako_coal_16/