Roca Group and Grupo Lamosa reach an agreement by which the Mexican industrial group purchases Roca’s tile division

02/08/2021

The deal is aligned with the corporate strategy of Roca Group, a global leader in products for the bathroom space, and will strengthen the international footprint of Grupo Lamosa, one of the World’s largest ceramic tile manufacturers.

Roca Group has agreed to sell its tile division to Grupo Lamosa. The perimeter of the transaction, valued at 260 million dollars (enterprise value free of financial net debt), includes two factories in Brazil, located in Campo Largo and São Mateus do Sul, as well as the Spanish Cerámicas Belcaire, in the Valencian Community. The three plants, which reached a total production of 23.4 million square meters of tile in 2020, export worldwide, being their main markets the United States, where the tile division also has a commercial subsidiary, Brazil and Spain.

Grupo Lamosa is dedicated to the manufacture and commercialization of ceramic coatings and adhesives, with sales of over 1 billion dollars and a relevant presence in the American Continent. The group has a history of more than 130 years in the construction materials industry.

This deal, in which Roca Group has been advised by Alantra, Uría Menéndez, and KPMG's transaction services team, is part of Roca Group's strategy to strengthen its position in the bathroom space segment, in line with the corporate transactions carried out this year. In this regard, in January the Group acquired 75% of Royo Group, thus creating one of the world leaders in bathroom furniture, and incorporated a sanitary ware plant in the north-east of Brazil, which will enable the group to supply the increase in demand in this region and strengthen its footprint in Central and North America. Recently, it has also acquired Sanit, one of Europe's leading suppliers of pre-wall installation systems and bathroom assembly components, headquartered in Germany.

"At Roca Group we are very pleased that our tile division has been acquired by Grupo Lamosa, a leading industrial company of great prestige within this field, its core business, with complete geographical complementarity and with promising future plans for this unit", highlights Albert Magrans, CEO of Roca Group.

Federico Toussaint, CEO and Chairman of Grupo Lamosa, points out that “this transaction further enhances the strong presence of Grupo Lamosa in the American Continent, where it already operates in several countries, and allows its expansion into Europe. It also represents an important step in the company's growth path, according to its strategic plan, to expand its geographical presence, diversify risks and continue to strengthen the position and leadership of Grupo Lamosa, which seeks further opportunities”.

The agreement is subject to the approval by the General Meeting of Shareholders of Grupo Lamosa, which will be held during the month of August.

Roca Group closed the 2020 financial year with a turnover of 1.68 billion euros, 9.5% less than in 2019 due to the context of the pandemic and the slowdown in the global economy. Despite this, Ebitda increased to 306 million, up 21%, while consolidated net profit stood at 60 million, representing a decrease of 12%. The Group's priority is to further strengthen its global leadership in the bathroom space with innovative solutions and high added-value technologies, while making decisive progress on its sustainability roadmap and its digital transformation.

Grupo Lamosa reported revenues of 1.06 billion dollars (last twelve months at the end of June 2021), with a 14% growth compared to the previous year. The purchase of Roca Group's tile division enables Grupo Lamosa’s consolidated income to increase by approximately 20%, and the production capacity of the coatings business by 16%, reaching around 225 million square meters per year. With this investment, Lamosa is among the world's top 3 manufacturers of ceramic tile.