Villeroy & Boch in Negotiations with Turkish Ceram
Mettlach, Germany, December 13, 2006--Villeroy & Boch AG and the Turkish ceramic manufacturer Eczacibasi have entered into negotiations on a cooperation agreement with V & B Fliesen GmbH, the ceramic tile operation spun off in January 2006.
The cooperation is to focus on the production and marketing of ceramic wall and floor tiles and does not extend to other areas of activity in the ceramic sector.
The V&B Fliesen GmbH workforce of close to 1,000 is currently producing approximately 10 million m² of wall and floor tiles at its production facilities in Merzig, Germany, and La Ferté Gaucher, France. Including additional purchases of 3 million m², total sales of € 150 million are achieved.
The Eczacibasi Group is a prominent industrial group in Turkey with 37 companies which yield combined net sales of close to US$ 2.6 billion p. a. The Eczacibasi Group’s core business areas are pharmaceuticals, building materials and consumer products; the group is also active in finance, information technology, electronic cards and welding technologies.
The negotiations will be held with EKS Eczacibasi Karo Seramik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. This company controls the tile business of the Eczacibasi Group. It operates production facilities in Turkey and Ireland where it employs 1,200 people. In December 2005 EKS acquired the German tile manufacturer Keramik GmbH. The EKS Group produces a total of 25 million m² of wall and floor tiles in the lower and medium price range.
Cooperation between the powerful EKS Group and V&B Fliesen GmbH, which would have a combined capacity of 35 million m² of tiles, would strengthen the competitiveness of this new alliance on the global markets.
