The invention pertains to a cogel comprising oxidic compounds of one or more trivalent metallic elements selected from the group of aluminum, borium, gallium, chromium, iron, cobalt, manganese, vanadium, molybdenum, tungsten, indium, rhodium, scandium, or mixtures thereof, oxidic compounds of one or more tetravalent metallic elements selected from the group of silicon, titanium, germanium, or mixtures thereof and oxidic compounds of one or more divalent metallic elements with at least one divalent metallic element not selected from Group VIII non-noble metallic elements, wherein a) the cogel is essentially X-ray amorphous apart from saponite, if present; b) the saponite content CA of the cogel is less than 60%; c) the cogel has a surface area of at least 400 m2/g; d) the cogel has a cation-exchange capacity of at least 0.5 wt %; and e) the total of sodium and potassium contained in the cogel amounts to less than 0.5 wt %, based on the total weight of the cogel. The invention further relates to a process for preparing said cogel as well as to catalysts comprising these cogels as cracking component, a process for preparing said catalysts, and the use of these catalysts for hydroprocessing applications.