Mississippi Lime Company

Mississippi Lime Company

The Employees of Mississippi Lime Company Pension Plan was created in 1961 to provide retirement benefits for workers at the Missouri-based calcium-products manufacturer. The plan is affiliated with Mississippi Lime Company, a privately held industrial firm with primary operations in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, and a corporate headquarters in suburban St. Louis. Since 2011, the operating company has been a portfolio holding of HBM Holdings, a St. Louis private investment firm founded by John S. Ross. That ownership structure places the pension's governance within a network that includes HBM's former CEO Michael A. DeCola, who also served as Mississippi Lime Company's board chair. The plan allocates across multiple asset classes, including buyout, mezzanine lending, and fund-of-funds commitments. Its real-asset exposure is anchored by the underlying industrial facilities — a lime plant in Ste. Genevieve, a satellite operation in Bonne Terre, Missouri, and undeveloped industrial land in Blair, Nebraska. On the private-equity side, the plan accesses deal flow through HBM Holdings' direct investments in manufacturing and distribution companies. The fund-of-funds sleeve provides diversification into middle-market buyout and credit strategies. Geographic concentration is heavily weighted toward US industrial markets, with a particular focus on Missouri and Great Lakes-region operating companies. Known co-investment relationships include the United Way of Greater St. Louis and the St. Louis Regional Business Council, where DeCola has held board and chair roles. Total plan assets are estimated below $100 million, consistent with a single-site industrial sponsor. The plan does not publicly disclose its headcount. Executive leadership in 2025 is led by Mississippi Lime Company CEO Paul Hogan, who assumed oversight of the business after the HBM Holdings acquisition era. Adjacent philanthropic structures include the Harry B. Mathews Jr. Foundation, which operates separately from the pension trust. Mississippi Lime Company also maintains industry-association memberships through the Adhesive and Sealant Council and the Business Health Coalition, both of which signal ongoing engagement with industrial-end-market customers. The plan's structural distinction lies in its embeddedness within a single-family-office-style holding company. Most corporate pension funds of this size sit inside publicly traded sponsors; Mississippi Lime's plan, by contrast, shares an ecosystem with HBM Holdings' direct portfolio, creating a sourcing channel for private deals that most sub-$100 million plans cannot replicate. Governance runs through a private-company board rather than a public-fiduciary committee, though the plan remains subject to ERISA oversight.