One of the large European ceramic manufacturers with a strong presence in Castellón, the British Victoria group, takes a turn in its strategy. The owner of Kerabenwhich after purchasing the Turkish manufacturer Graniser had launched a plan to increase its manufacturing in that country due to its lower energy and labor costscomes off its plant.
Victoria has made official the agreement to divest B3 Ceramics Danismanlik, the company that produces the Graniser brand in Izmir (Türkiye). To this end, it has reached an agreement with Hasan Akgün, CEO of Duratiles and member of the founding family of Akgün Groupwhich operates in the construction materials, automotive, insurance, logistics and oil sectors in Türkiye, with 5,000 employees and 17 factories.
The agreement values the sale operation at 36.8 million eurosalthough the amount that the buyer will pay in cash it will be 10 million euros. The rest, 26.8 million euros corresponds to the net debt which the new owner will assume with the assets of the Turkish company.
The divestment comes after Victoria announced just a few months ago that its strategy in the ceramic business included “increased manufacturing in Türkiye, which has many of the cost advantages of Indian manufacturers andHowever, being much closer to Europe, has much lower transportation costs“.
Specialize factories
At the same time, it was committed to integrating its production units in Spain and Italy and specializing each factory in the manufacture of a specific type of product. In the Spanish case had already decided to stop production at the Saloni plant last year.
Some measures that came after recognizing that it was not having the expected results due to the fall in consumption, mainly in Europe. In the sales statement he acknowledges that its Turkish subsidiary “has been negatively affected by recent instability in several of its key markets”thereby recognizing that the search for cost competitiveness in that country is not as simple as expected when it acquired Graniser in 2021.
Victoria then paid 8.4 million euros for the company, in addition to assuming Graniser’s net debt of 39.8 million, which includes a portion with the current shareholders.
However, the transfer also includes a “long-term supply” agreement for “specific” ceramic tiles for the Victoria Group “at manufacturing cost prices”. A formula with which the British firm will indirectly continue to have part of its production in Turkey, although without the headaches of making production profitable, but which may affect other plants such as the Spanish ones.
Victoria’s original investment in Graniser sought to diversify ceramic tile manufacturing “in an environment of lower energy, labor and raw material prices,” he says. Now “with the long-term supply agreement with manufacturing costs, this thesis remains completely intact.”
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