Founded in 1904 by the Hamon brothers, the family company got a worldwide reputation in cooling towers for industrial waters. At that time, those cooling towers – the one in Drogenbos is an example – were mainly used by coal mines and steel mills. In the ‘90s, Hamon diversified its activities and became a major player in air pollution control through its Hamon Research-Cottrell subsidiaries. In dedusting, they sell (among others) electrostatic precipitators whose principle was invented by Professor Cottrell in 1907. On top of those two activities, Hamon also builds industrial chimneys – up to 300 meter tall – and heat exchangers. The group main customers are power plants and the oil & gas industry.

With an installed base of more than 10,000 units, Hamon has 20 operating subsidiaries spread on the five continents; about 1,000 employees of whom 300 engineers and researchers; a consolidated revenue of EUR 433 million; a market capitalisation of EUR 336 millions (figures at end of 2007).

In June 2006, the three Belgian entities of the group moved and were regrouped in Axisparc, Mont-St-Guibert, close to UCL. This choice was motivated among others by the proximity of the University to detect innovative ideas, to attract talents (engineers !), to offer them international career opportunities and to promote R&D with the laboratories of the Ecole Polytechnique de Louvain.

In March 2008, Mr. Lambilliotte was really seduced by the Xylowatt investment project. Xylowatt is a spin-off of the TERM laboratory of the UCL, and the leader in small-scale gasification in Europe. As he mentioned to us, it was at the same time an interested and a passion choice.

Interested because Xylowatt – which designs, builds and starts up cogeneration plants (heat and power) based on wood gasification with a power ranging from 300 kWe to several MWe – fits well with Hamon’s strategic vision in biomass-based renewable energies. Hamon took this minority stake in Xylowatt’s capital at a right moment: Hamon will bring its industrial and contracting experience in implementation of important projects. Its international presence should accelerate the expansion of the spin-off, particularly in overseas markets, including India where it is already present through a joint venture. Mr. Lambilliotte also emphasizes that he was impressed by the Xylowatt’s management team, its dynamism and its technological know-how. Hamon’s mission is also to invest in start-ups close to its domain of activity and to its region. The synergies and complementarities between the two companies offer nice prospects in terms of value creation.

Francis Labilliotte
CEO Hamon

The Xylowatt EUR 2.6 million capital increase was completed by a shake-up of its board of directors, now chaired by Mr. Olivier Lefebvre (former chairman of Euronext board of directors), himself very enthusiastic about the technology and the ambition of the company: “The board of directors has set among its goals the implementation of a specific financing tool for cogeneration units which will act as a commercial lever for the company and facilitate its deployment abroad”. According to Mr. Lefebvre, units for a total power of 12 MWe should be financed this way in three years.

T. Cross (CFO Xylowatt), F. Bourgeois (Fondateur Xylowatt), M. Helbig de Balzac (Administrateur - Angelsfund), G. Barchman (CEO Xylowatt), O. Lefebvre (Président Xylowatt), Ph. Durieux (CEO Sopartec), S. van Ypersele (Corporate Development Manager Hamon), I. Sintzoff(Xyloxatt - Absent sur la photo)