Two new investors, Wallonie Entreprendre and Invest Mons-Borinage-Centre (IMBC), are joining the Abraham family to continue supporting Les Carrières de la Pierre Bleue Belge's legacy.
Situated in Soignies, in the heart of Wallonia, Les Carrières de la Pierre Bleue Belge has extracted and processed bluestone for more than 300 years, across five generations of the Abraham family. “You've already touched it. The threshold of your house, the steps of the village church, the windowsill or the sink of an old kitchen. It is called small granite, or Soignies stone,” shares Sylvie Creteur, CEO at IMBC, which has been supporting the family for nearly 30 years.
She explains that this stone now competes with imported stones and low-cost substitute materials: “This considerable potential gives full meaning to the company’s long-term vision.”
Today, Julie Abraham runs it and is putting three hectares of new reserves into operation at the Gauthier & Wincqz and Telliers les Prés site to ensure the company’s future, as well as the country’s bluestone supply, for the next twenty to thirty years. She has raised €4.5 million, including a reinvestment from the Abraham family alongside new capital from Wallonie Entreprendre (WE) and IMBC.
“The arrival of WE and IMBC in the capital marks a new stage in the history of the Belgian Blue Stone Quarries,” says WE investment manager, Jean-Luc Nondonfaz. “We share a clear ambition to give the company the means to accelerate its projects and open a new chapter in its development.”
He emphasises how this alliance demonstrates public and private players’ ability to mobilise around promising industrial projects for Wallonia.
“Behind this project, there are more than 150 employees, trades that can be learned on site with CEFOMEPI and jobs that will never go elsewhere, because the stone industry does not relocate,” Sylvie elaborates.
“This is also the role of an investor: to provide long-term support to companies that structure the economy of their region, with particular attention paid to the sustainability of their activities.”
Closing and Strelia advised on this deal.
