Saint-Gobain Building Distribution Sector Continues to Expand With 3 Acquisitions in Italy, Spain and Germany
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COURBEVIOE, France, April 11 -- Saint-Gobain's Building Distribution Sector has just announced the acquisition of Vemac (Italy), Discesur (Spain) and Schafer (Germany).
o On a highly fragmented Italian market, Vemac is one of the country's largest builders' merchants and a regional leader in Abruzzo. The business has 10 branches, employs 187 people and recorded net sales of EUR66 million in 2006. Following the opening of a second La Plateforme du Batiment store at the beginning of 2007 in Milan, Saint-Gobain Building Distribution reinforces its presence on the Italian market and now has a solid base on which to develop its generalist distribution business.
o Discesur is the number 2 distributor of tiles in Spain. With a large showroom (4,000 m2) in Madrid, the business recorded net sales of over EUR55 million in 2006 and employs 101 people. Through this acquisition, Saint-Gobain Building Distribution has bolstered its tiles business in Spain and at the same time confirmed its position as European leader on this market.
o Schafer, a business specialized in distributing roofing products in Germany, operates 14 branches and employs 130 people. Its net sales reached EUR50 million in 2006. The geographical location of this acquisition will enable Saint-Gobain Building Distribution to extend its specialized "roofing" network across the whole of Germany.
With these deals, the total number of acquisitions finalized by the Saint-Gobain Group in Building Distribution since the beginning of the year stands at 20, corresponding to full-year net sales of about EUR440 million.
In 2006, Saint-Gobain's Building Distribution Sector posted net sales of
EUR17.6 billion. Its 67,000 employees operate a network of over 3,700 sales outlets in 24 countries. It is currently Europe's leading distributor of building materials and the world's number one tiles distributor. Its main brands are Point.P, Jewson, Raab Karcher, Dahl, Lapeyre la maison... and La Plateforme du Batiment.
Source: Saint-Gobain
