James Hardie reports its second quarter and first half figures later this morning and it set the share price running ahead of that announcement yesterday of a near three quarters of a billion acquisition in Europe.
Hardie told the ASX it had agreed to buy German-based parent of fibre gypsum board producer Fermacell for 473 million euros (around $A738 million).
Fermacell holds more than 70% share in Europe’s fibre gypsum board market and also produces cement-bonded boards. Hardie claimed that deal would be “highly complementary” to its existing fibre cement business and would give it a robust growth platform to expand its fibre cement business into the large and affluent European market.
Hardie said the acquisition would add value in the second full financial year after the deal is completed (2020). Hardie will fund the deal with debt.
Fermacell will diversify our geographic, product and end-market portfolio, complementing our strong positions in North America and Australasia,” said Louis Gries, Hardie CEO said in yesterday’s statement.
Hardie says Fermacell will account for approximately 15% of total global revenue of the combined business.
It will provide more background with the second quarter and first half data later today and analyst briefing. Hardie shares fell 1.5% to $18.95 yesterday.
