Saint Gobain Or Regulatory News (COD)

7 Aug 2007 07:46

Compagnie de Saint-Gobain07 August 2007 August 7, 2007 Saint-Gobain doubles the size of its industrial mortars business through the acquisition of the Maxit group Saint-Gobain has announced the acquisition from HeidelbergCement of Maxit group,manufacturer of industrial mortars. Maxit has 5,130 employees and in 2006reported sales of €1,237 million. With this transaction, Saint-Gobain continues its leadership strategy inConstruction Markets, doubling its size in industrial mortars (which, in 2006,already represented €1 billion in products sold under the Weber trademark) andin particular strengthens its ETICS (External Thermal Insulation CompositeSystem) solutions. Geographical complementarity between Maxit and Weber is excellent: Weber is themarket leader in France and in Southern Europe, and very well established inEastern Europe while Maxit group is a leading player in Germany and inScandinavia. In addition, the two groups have a joint presence in many emergingcountries and in most western European countries. Maxit has 103 industrial unitsin 30 countries and Weber has 80 industrial units in 27 countries. Industrial mortars combine strong growth in emerging countries and sustainedgrowth in developed countries thanks to improvements in the exterior insulatingsystems and productivity gains on building sites. Industrial mortars areinherently local products, for which marketing and technical innovations play animportant role in terms of product formulations and specifications. In addition to manufacturing industrial mortars, Maxit group produces clay-basedsolutions for draining and insulating foundations, a widely-used technique inScandinavian countries. Maxit's addition to the Construction Products Sector of Saint-Gobain willprovide opportunities for a variety of synergies with both Exterior Solutions(particularly Weber mortars) and Interior Solutions (plaster, insulationproducts). The Group is aiming for cost synergies of approximately €30 million. The transaction has an enterprise value of €2,125 million (i.e., approximately11 times Maxit's estimated operating income for 2007 after cost synergies) andis subject to approval by relevant competition authorities. Finalization of thetransaction is expected by the fourth quarter of the year. *** Investor Relations Department Florence Triou-Teixeira Tel.: +33 1 47 62 45 19 Alexandre Etuy Tel.: +33 1 47 62 37 15 Fax: +33 1 47 62 50 62 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange