Japan's Itochu Buys US Flooring Distributor Galleh

Tokyo, Japan, February 8, 2007--Itochu Corp has acquired Galleher Inc, a California-based flooring distributor for an estimated 4 bln yen, to bolster its North American home building materials business, the Nikkei reported, without citing sources.

Galleher with sales of 125 mln usd in 2005 is ranked as the 10th largest flooring distributor in the US.

Taking advantage of this acquisition, the trading house aims to double its sales of flooring material to 250 mln usd in five years, catapulting it to No. 3 in the market, the business daily said.

The trader also plans to boost production at two wood-processing subsidiaries in Washington and

Vancouver, Canada, to a combined 300,000 square meters annually by 2008, it said.

Altogether, the company aims to expand its entire North American construction materials business to over 2 bln usd by 2008, up from 1.5 bln at present, according to the Nikkei.

(1 usd = 120.66 yen)