Tondach Romania, the domestic branch of Tondach Gleinstatten Austrian company operating in the ceramic tiles sector, has been in talks with Ceramica Iasi for a possible acquisition of the ceramic blocks producer, according to some market sources.
Ceramica Iasi representatives did not accepted the Austrians'' takeover bid, Tondach officials say.
The officials of the Iasi-based company could not be contacted by the time the story was ready for print.
Once they entered the Romanian market, the Austrians have continued to look for new plants, in an attempt to expand their operations.
In case Tondach makes no further acquisitions on the Romanian market, the Austrians will start building a new plant in Sibiu next summer, with a scheduled production capacity of 15-18 million tiles per annum.
Tondach Austrian group has been present on the Romanian market since 2004, when it bought a stake of 85% Cema Sibiu ceramic tile plant.
The value of the deal has not been disclosed, but the Austrians announced they would invest approximately 25 million euros to expand and modernise the plant. Since 2004, about 6 million euros have been targeted at the Sibiu plant for the modernisation of production lines, and the plant operates at full capacity at this moment, the management says.
Ceramica Iasi, a company producing ceramic blocks and bricks, ceramic tiles and pavement, is one of the biggest players on the market, being located near some important clay deposits.
The main shareholder in the company is Ceramica''s Employee Association (PAS), 40.56%, while 59.44% of the shares are held by other employees of the company who are not PAS members, in line with the latest information available.
Tondach Gleinstaetten of Austria, which owns the whole of Tondach Romania, raised the share capital of the company of Sibiu in several stages, from 100,000 euros in 2002 to 2.51 million euros at the beginning of this year.
The latest capital subscription has amounted to 913,000 euros.
In the wake of this share capital increase, Tondach Romania will invest at least 1.5 million euros this year to develop the production capacities of the Sibiu-based plant.
Following these investments, production capacities will go up by about 40-45% starting next year, according to the representatives of the company. At present, the plant of Sibiu produces 12 million units per annum.
Tondach Romania management for this year estimates turnover will rise by about 35%, to approximately 10.8 million euros.
Tondach Romania exports around 10% of the production in Sibiu to Bulgaria and the Republic of Moldova.
Globally, Tondach Gleinstaetten is present in 10 European countries with 26 plants. catalin.lupoaie@zf.ro
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