Austrian group buys brick and roof tile producer in Romania

Austrian group Leier, already owning Romanian brick producer Brikston Construction Solutions (formerly Ceramica Iasi), reached an agreement to buy Siceram Sighișoara - a manufacturer of bricks, roof tiles and other building materials with RON 85 million (EUR 18.3 mln) sales last year.

The timing of the deal coincides with perhaps the peak of the local construction market in the past decade, as the outlook is clouded by fragile general economic prospects.

The transaction pends the approval of the Competition Council. Siceram was privatized in 1995 and is currently controlled by a group of local entrepreneurs.

Last year, the company reported RON 86 mln turnover and a net profit of RON 9.6 mln (some EUR 2 mln).

The Leier group of companies, with a combined annual turnover in excess of EUR 200 mln, operates 40 production units located in seven countries: Austria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Croatia and Ukraine.

The producer entered Romania in 2004, and, a year later, started the construction of a factory for concrete products in Alba county (western Romania).

In 2018, Leier took over from the Asian investment fund CEECAT Capital the majority stake in the brick maker Brikston Construction Solutions (formerly Ceramica Iasi) after CEECAT attempt to sell the company to Austrian group Wienerberger (already highly active on the local market) was barred by the Competition Council.

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