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[December 2008]
Wienerberger Completes Takeover of Petrinja Brick Plant in Croatia
Wienerberger AG (Vienna, Austria) has completed the takeover of the Petrinja clay block plant with the acquisition of the remaining 75% stake in this company as of 1 December 2008. Together with the 25% investment that was purchased seven months ago, this location 50km south of Zagreb is now owned entirely by the Wienerberger Group. The plant has a production capacity of 110 million NF (= standard format for bricks) and generated revenues of approximately €7.5 million in 2007. The parties have agreed not to reveal any information on the price for this transaction.
"The market environment in Croatia is also becoming more difficult in the wake of the international financial crisis. However, brick products are the dominating building material for walls in this country with a share of more than 85% and the local residential construction market has shown sound development in recent years,” explained Johann Windisch, member of the Managing Board of Wienerberger AG with responsibility for Central-East Europe and North America. “We expect this trend will continue over the mid-term, above all as a result of Croatia's upcoming accession to the EU.
"In addition, we are now successfully exporting our products to the neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina from Croatia. We are therefore optimistic that the 100% integration of Petrinja into our Croatian company will allow us to realise positive synergies."
ENDS