Irish Insulation giant Kingspan has acquired a majority stake in Sweden’s Nordic Waterproofing, a move which the company said would lift its annualised roofing and waterproofing revenues to approximately €1 billion.
The Cavan-based group said that, following the purchase of a further 26.5 per cent of shares on Friday, it now had a majority stake (62.6 per cent) in the listed Swedish maker of waterproofing products.
“This is a further significant milestone in the growth of the group’s global roofing and waterproofing division,” Kingspan said, noting Nordic Waterproofing is a leading provider of waterproofing products in northern Europe with a presence in 10 countries. The bulk of its sales are in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
As of now, the company does not sell into Ireland.
“This development, together with the recent acquisition of IB Roofing in the US and our existing business, takes the group’s annualised consolidated roofing and waterproofing revenues to approximately €1 billion,” it said. “This is before the impact of our organic expansion in the US which is advancing at pace, and any further acquisition activity,” it added.
Kingspan had previously been blocked from gaining control of the Swedish firm, which employs close to 1,300 people, after shareholders rejected the Cavan group’s takeover offer.
Kingspan announced last October the equivalent of a €229 million mandatory cash offer for Nordic Waterproofing after its stake in the company had crossed the key 30 per cent threshold. Nordic Waterproofing’s board recommended in February that its shareholders not take up the offer.
However, a number of shareholders ignored the board recommendation, leaving Kingspan with a 35.7 per cent stake in the group.
Nordic Waterproofing was formed in 2011 through the merger of the Danish and Swedish subsidiaries of waterproofing specialists Trelleborg and the Finnish Lemminkäinen Oy’s roofing business. It listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange in 2016.
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