Apeldoorn/ Raamsdonkveer, The Netherlands, March 10th 2022 – Cold Care Group, a holding company backed by NewPort Capital, today announces the merger of Koel Isolatie Maatschappij Nederland B.V. (“K.I.M.”) and Roma Nederland B.V. (“Roma”), two long established industry players in the sandwich panel construction of climate controlled commercial and industrial buildings. The transaction creates the undisputed market leader in the specialised niche of insulated modular construction of cold storage and climate-controlled solutions in the Netherlands, with an increasing presence throughout Europe.
As part of the envisaged accelerated growth strategy, Cold Care Group has appointed Ben Claaszen an industry veteran and former Managing Director within the Kingspan group as CEO of the newly incepted group. Ben, supported by the incumbent management teams of K.I.M. (Elbert-Jan Drieënhuizen, Erik Engeltjes and Gerard Scherff) and Roma (Paul Pallandt, Johan Woestenberg and Herman van Leeuwen) will start at April 1st and spearhead the groups growth initiatives, both organic as well as acquisitive. Both companies will continue to operate under their own names.
Han Reinders, Cold Care Group Supervisory Board Member and former Managing Director of K.I.M. comments: “Roma has been a well-respected and highly regarded industry peer of K.I.M., the company incepted by my father in 1968, for as long I can remember. With its highly complementary product portfolio and service offering, Roma is a great partner for K.I.M. and I am very proud that both companies have joined forces as part of Cold Care Group, marking a truly historic event.” Paul Pallandt, Commercial Director of Roma adds: “With the collaboration with K.I.M. and NewPort, we are at the start of a new chapter in the history of our company which was incepted in 1978 and where Herman van Leeuwen, Johan Woestenberg and me all have been involved for more than 30 years, starting as employees and later also as shareholders. Adding Roma’s state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities in the area of insulated doors, housings, tunnels and cabinets to the group will undoubtedly lead to new innovations in design and products which should benefit and create value for our joint customers. We feel a strong cultural match with K.I.M.’s leadership team and have great respect for its skilled and loyal workforce. As such myself, Johan and Herman are very pleased to collaborate with K.I.M. as one team under the umbrella of the Cold Care Group, continuing to run the day-to-day operations of Roma and entering as shareholders in the Cold Care Group.”
The formation of the Cold Care Group marks an important step in the industry consolidation efforts of NewPort and follows NewPort’s investment in K.I.M. completed in April 2021. “We see tremendous growth potential in the cold store industry and broader temperature-controlled supply chain and are very excited to be able to unite the capabilities of both companies which each are known as leaders in developing and constructing the industry’s most sophisticated fully automated facilities. We are also very pleased to have Ben Claaszen coming on board as our new CEO and fellow shareholder and to lead this promising platform for further growth. Ben’s experience and success growing companies internationally, leading them through post-merger integration processes and harvesting synergies will be of great benefit to Cold Care Group under our ownership.”, said Melvin Sie, Partner at NewPort.
Ben Claaszen, newly appointed CEO of Cold Care Group, comments: “The combination of Roma and K.I.M. is a true powerhouse in the specialised cold store construction market and I strongly believe the combined business, which covers the entire value chain from production and construction to service and maintenance, is uniquely positioned towards its clients with an unrivalled ability to cater to their needs for innovative and high-quality solutions. As Cold Care Group we seek to accelerate the growth strategy of the two companies, and I look forward to leverage on the strong platforms build over almost 100 years of combined history and further expand the business across other verticals than food including pharma and healthcare and to grow the activities internationally.”
Jointly K.I.M. and Roma install over 650,000 m2 in insulated sandwich panels annually making it the single largest user of these materials in the Benelux. With a total workforce of some 150 own employees, the Cold Care Group is also one of the larger specialised construction companies in the Netherlands executing some 500 projects a year.
About Ben Claaszen
Prior to joining Cold Care Group, Ben was Managing Director Western Europe at Kingspan Light + Air, which manufactures a range of daylighting, natural ventilation and smoke management solutions. Prior to his role at the Light + Air business division, Ben spent six years managing the Insulated panels business in Western Europe and before that he worked more than 20 years at Unidek. At Unidek, Ben over the years held various management roles in the areas of procurement and sales and was appointed Managing Director in 2004.
About K.I.M. Nederland
K.I.M., headquartered in Apeldoorn since 1968, is a company specialized in modular insulated construction. The company builds refrigerated stores, cold stores and other climate-controlled storage options for the food, pharma, transport and logistics sectors. Also see www.kim-nederland.nl
About Roma Nederland
Roma, incepted in 1978 and headquartered in Raamsdonksveer, designs, customizes and installs premium quality sandwich insulation panels for climate controlled commercial and industrial buildings. Furthermore, it constructs related products such as cold stores, freezers, climate chambers and industrial insulated doors and housings and has an inhouse service maintenance department. Also see www.romaned.nl