Hilde brings over 25 years of experience in various financial roles across international companies, primarily within the sustainability and energy sectors, but also within rail operations and the manufacturing industry. She has worked in both scale-ups and established organizations, publicly owned as well as privately held, in project-driven businesses as well as operational, B2B, and SaaS – all within technology-focused environments. Hilde’s educational background is in engineering with an MBA, and her work has had a global reach, including South America, North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
“I am very pleased that Hilde has joined our management team. With her broad expertise in financial leadership within the energy sector, she brings both experience and insight that will greatly benefit our business,” says David Ekberg.
“The merger of Permascand and Magneto Special Anodes, and the company’s global leadership in sustainable solutions for various industrial applications, is a strong fit with my background and interests. I am excited to be part of this company, addressing crucial needs for the green transition.” says Hilde Bekier-Larssen.
David Ekberg has been appointed CEO of Permascand and Magneto Special Anodes. He is an experienced leader with previous roles in Stora Enso, Climeon and Ericsson.
“The merger of Permascand and Magneto is an excellent opportunity to come onboard as CEO. The two leading companies have the potential to play an even more important role in addressing crucial needs for the green transition. We have received incredible support from Altor in making this next phase come true. With their continued backing, we will leverage their long heritage of helping industrial companies scale”, says David Ekberg, CEO of Permascand and Magneto Special Anodes.
“David Ekberg has an entrepreneurial mindset and extensive experience from working globally, driving growth and innovation. Under his leadership, we embark on a growth journey for the new company, aiming to serve existing and new customers with our leading products and solutions. I am very pleased to see him take on this new role”, says Annica Bresky, chair of the Board of directors of Permascand.
Swedish-based Permascand, owned by Altor, has merged with Magneto Special Anodes to form a global leader in catalytic coatings and electrodes for premium segment customers. Magneto Special Anodes, formerly a brand of global water solutions company Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL), has production facilities in the Netherlands and in China.
Permascand and Magneto Special Anodes have technological leadership in electrochemical catalytic coatings and electrodes. Today they serve complementary customer segments. The ambition is to continue to grow within existing segments, but also to deploy the strong technology expertise into new segments. One opportunity is green hydrogen, which will play a crucial role in the green transition of industry.
David Ekberg has been appointed as CEO of the new company, joining immediately. He is an experienced leader with previous roles in Stora Enso, Climeon and Ericsson.
“This combination marks the start of a new chapter for both Permascand and Magneto, and for me an excellent opportunity to come onboard as CEO. The two leading companies have the potential to play an even more important role in addressing crucial needs for the green transition. We have received incredible support from Altor in making this next phase come true. With their continued backing, we will leverage their long heritage of helping industrial companies scale”, says David Ekberg, CEO of Permascand and Magneto Special Anodes.
“David Ekberg has an entrepreneurial mindset and extensive experience from working globally, driving growth and innovation. Under his leadership, we embark on a growth journey for the new company, aiming to serve existing and new customers with our leading products and solutions. I am very pleased to see him take on this new role”, says Annica Bresky, chair of the Board of directors of Permascand.
The transaction has been closed. The parties have agreed not to share further details regarding the transaction. In the short term both entities will continue to operate under their existing names.
About Permascand
Permascand is a technology-driven manufacturer of world-leading electrochemical solutions – based on proprietary catalytic coatings – for clean tech applications. With a customer-centric focus, the company has supplied electrodes and aftermarket services for a variety of industries for more than 50 years. They have one production facility in Sweden and employ approximately 110 people. Their offering spans three core segments: Industrial Solutions, Water Treatment and Electrification & Renewables.
For more information visit www.permascand.com
About Magneto Special Anodes
Magneto Special Anodes designs, produces and supplies titanium-based anodes with precious metal coatings. The Company’s headquarters is in the Netherlands. The company was founded in 1957. In 2016, Magneto Special Anodes joined Evoqua (now a part of Xylem). Magneto Special Anodes has two production facilities, one in the Netherlands and one in China, and employs approximately 190 people. Its portfolio includes five main application areas: electro-winning, corrosion protection, metal plating (incl. surface finishing (NL) & electronics (CN), water treatment and green hydrogen.
For more information visit www.magneto-anodes.com
About Altor
Since inception, the family of Altor funds has raised more than EUR 11 billion in total commitments. The funds have invested in just south of 100 companies. The investments have been made in medium-sized predominantly Nordic and DACH companies with the aim to create value through growth initiatives and operational improvements. Among current and past investments are Trioworld, OX2, Carnegie, Vianode and Stegra.
For more information visit www.altor.com
Permascand USA, Inc. has been awarded $13.7 million in tax credit by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through their Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Credit (§ 48C) program. In the program’s second round, Permascand submitted a project related to a new manufacturing facility in Houston, Texas for high performance electrodes from both new and recycled materials. These electrodes represent a core component of clean hydrogen production.
“We are proud to receive the support of the U.S. Department of Energy within their objective for clean energy,“ states Permascand CEO Fredrik Herlitz. “Our mission is to provide electrochemical solutions for the global green transition. Being recognized in this competitive funding program is a testament to our strong technology development. This proposed project leverages Permascand’s experience in advanced technologies and machinery and will employ a highly skilled workforce to support DOE’s initiative in lowering the levelized cost of hydrogen.”
The Permascand proposal was one of 140 projects selected by the DOE in the second round out of over 800 concept papers submitted in summer of 2024.
The § 48C tax credit aims to strengthen U.S. industrial competitiveness and clean energy supply chains as the nation transitions to a net-zero economy with the creation of high-quality jobs, a reduction in industrial emissions, and an increase in domestic production of critical clean energy products and materials. Decarbonization using clean hydrogen is a priority area for this tax credit, and it can be applied to manufacturing of electrolyzers, fuel cells, and associated components (including gas diffusion layers, bipolar plates, and power electronics).
About Permascand Permascand is an independent technology-driven manufacturer of electrochemical solutions based on proprietary catalytic coatings for clean tech applications. For more than 50 years, the company has supplied electrodes, electrochemical cells and aftermarket services to a variety of sectors including water treatment, industrial solutions, electrification and renewables and hydrogen. Permascand is headquartered in Ljungaverk, Sweden, with operations including R&D, Technology Development, Production and Sales in Sweden, Germany and North America. Permascand USA, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Permascand. For more information visit: www.permascand.com.
Contact person: Fredrik Herlitz, tel +46 691 355 00 email fredrik.herlitz@permascand.com
Permascand stärker styrelsen med de erfarna ledamöterna Per Lindberg och Johan Karlsson för att ta bolaget in i en ny industriell fas. Per Lindberg, med lång erfarenhet av att leda och utveckla bolag i en internationell miljö, tar över rollen som styrelseordförande.
De globala trenderna inom elektrifiering och ökad efterfrågan på förnybar energi driver den globala omställningen till grön teknologi. De elektrokemiska lösningar som Permascand tillhandahåller är en viktig del för att möjliggöra utvecklingen inom dessa områden, för en mer hållbar framtid.
– Permascand har en stor betydelse i den gröna omställningen vilket leder till att marknaden för bolagets produkter växer i snabb takt. Det är ett högteknologiskt bolag som innehar en stark position för att växa med denna ökade efterfrågan. Jag ser fram emot att bidra med mina kunskaper och erfarenheter för att stärka den ytterligare, säger Permascands nya styrelseordförande Per Lindberg.
Per Lindberg, född 1959, har en lång erfarenhet från ledande positioner i det svenska näringslivet. Mellan 2005 och 2018 ledde han Billerud och senare BillerudKorsnäs som vd och koncernchef. Därefter var Per Lindberg vd och koncernchef på Epiroc, som framgångsrikt etablerades som ett börsnoterat bolag efter avknoppning från Atlas Copco. Per Lindberg har civilingenjörsexamen samt doktorsexamen, från Chalmers tekniska högskola. Sedan 2010 är han ledamot i Kungliga Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien, IVA.
Johan Karlsson, född 1965, är CFO på Dustin Group och styrelseordförande i Adlibris. Han har en bred ekonomisk bakgrund inom IT och detaljhandel, och har tidigare arbetat på Techdata, ACO och Unilever. Johan Karlsson har civilekonomexamen från Handelshögskolan vid Göteborgs universitet.
Permascand, en oberoende högteknologisk tillverkare av världsledande elektrokemiska lösningar, stärker nu sin ställning inom vätgasproduktion genom att ingå som samarbetspartner vid utvecklingen av Swedish Hydrogen Center, ett nytt kunskapscenter för elektrolys och förnybar vätgas.
Swedish Hydrogen Center kommer fungera som testbädd för utvärdering och testning av miljötekniska komponenter och applikationer. Sverige har som klimatmål att nå en helt fossilfri kraftproduktion 2040, samt en fossilfri fordonsflotta i vägtrafiken 2030. Elektrolys och förnybar vätgas kommer spela en avgörande roll för omställningen till ett klimatneutralt samhälle genom klimatneutrala transporter och industriprocesser, samt energilagring. Som partner i Swedish Hydrogen Center kommer Permascand kunna utveckla sin teknik ytterligare för att säkerställa sin position som en av de ledande aktörerna inom området för förnybar vätgas.
– Det globala intresset för elektrolys och förnybar vätgas växer exponentiellt drivet av elektrifiering och ökad efterfrågan på grön energi. Swedish Hydrogen Center kommer ge oss möjlighet att vara del av förstklassig forskning och utveckling inom miljötekniska applikationer. Detta gör att Permascand är ännu bättre positionerat för att möta den stora kommersiella potential som finns inom detta segment, säger Permascands VD Peter Lundström.
Projektet drivs av RISE (Research Institute of Sweden) och industriforskningsinstitutet Swerim med projektfinansiering från Vinnova. I projektet deltar även industriella partners som Boliden, Sandvik och Siemens. Vätgasinfrastrukturen kommer etableras vid Swerims anläggning i Luleå och testbäddens alla delar beräknas att vara i drift hösten 2022.
