The Looser Group is an international industrial holding headquartered in Arbon (CH). Together with its around 20 direct and indirect subsidiaries, it is active in the three segments of Doors, Industrial Services and Coatings. The companies of the Looser Group operate under their own corporate and product brands, which are established and well known in their respective markets. As of 31 December 2016, the Looser Group had 2266 employees worldwide.

Doors

The Doors Business Unit comprises the companies Prüm, Garant and Invado. With their broad product portfolio, the companies occupy leading market positions in their domestic markets of Germany and Poland. The Doors Business Unit manufactures and distributes interior doors and frames. The programme ranges from white finish, ornamental, veneered and laminated doors as well as all-glass doors. The portfolio is completed with fire doors, wet room doors, sound and thermal insulation doors, as well as doors offering protection against smoke, burglary and radiation. The products are sold by specialist distributors. The unit operates plants in Weinsheim (D), Ichtershausen (D) and Ciasna (PL). As of 31 December 2016, the Doors Business Unit of the Looser Group had 1592 employees. In 2016, the business unit recorded revenue of CHF 238.9 million.

Industrial Services

The Condecta Group represents the Industrial Services Business Unit and comprises three companies: Condecta, MobiToil and WMS WC-Mietservice. The Group offers total solutions in the fields of construction, industry, trade, public sector and event services. In Switzerland, the Condecta Group is one of the leading suppliers of self-erecting cranes, modular space systems and sanitation units as well as soil protection and blocking systems. Its headquarter is located in Winterthur (CH) and it has an additional seven sites and warehousing locations both within Switzerland as well as in Germany and Italy. The Industrial Services Business Unit enjoys high levels of profitability and good market penetration in Switzerland. As of 31 December 2016, 177 employees were employed in the Industrial Services Business Unit. The unit’s revenue amounted to CHF 61.3 million.

Coatings

The Coatings Business Unit includes Feyco Treffert (Treffert Group, Feyco AG), the Industrielack Group (Ilag) and the Schekolin Group. The companies develop, manufacture and distribute varnishes and coatings for use on materials such as wood, plastic, metal, stone and glass. Their main customers are the construction, parquet, laminate flooring, furniture, food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics industries. Further customers include carpentry businesses, producers of wood materials as well as pan and baking dish manufacturers. The Coatings Business Unit operates internationally and serves customers in Europe, Asia and the US.

As announced on 9 August 2016 and in agreement with Arbonia, Looser will continue the process of selling the coatings business. It is to be expected that the unit will be able to be sold in 2017.

The strategy

The takeover of the Looser Group and its doors businesses of Prüm-Garant and Invado has, combined with RWD Schlatter, formed the second-largest supplier of interior doors in Central Europe – offering excellent market opportunities and interesting new fields of activity for employees in both companies. The four companies complement ideally in terms of product portfolio, market presence, sales channels and production footprint.

Strong market positions in Central Europe

With its RWD Schlatter brand offering wooden functional doors to meet safety, fire protection and smoke protection requirements, Arbonia was, until now, represented almost exclusively in the Swiss market and was therefore heavily dependent on this one domestic market and its evolution. In contrast, Prüm-Garant and Invado enjoy a strong position with respect to interior doors in the German, Polish, Czech and Slovakian markets. As a result of the merger, Prüm-Garant and Invado are set to obtain access to the Swiss market and RWD Schlatter to the important German market, meaning that the companies will be able to benefit from the existing market position, sales organisations and customer relationships of the respective other businesses.

Expansion of the product range

The product portfolios of RWD Schlatter, Prüm-Garant and Invado perfectly complement each other: RWD Schlatter has comprehensive expertise in functional doors with high safety requirements, while Prüm-Garant and Invado offer a wide range of doors in the medium and lower price segment for the residential construction sector.

Four state-of-the-art production plants

The newly established production network comprising four dedicated plants and the company’s expanded purchasing power means that Arbonia, together RWD Schlatter, Prüm-Garant and Invado, will be in a position to offer an even more attractive range of doors.

Arbonia is set to continue the planned investment programmes in machinery and production capacity at Prüm in Weinsheim (D), Garant in Ichtershausen (D) and Invado in Ciasna (PL).

A new dimension of scale

This merger has resulted in the second-largest supplier of interior doors in Central Europe, while also seeing the scale of the Arbonia Group take on a whole new dimension.

Integration

The process of integrating Looser’s interior doors business into the Doors Division of the Arbonia Group started with the completion of the transaction. A cross-company team will track the progress of the integration process on the basis of a detailed schedule, with the aim of creating a new, strong division within Arbonia and to fully realise the targeted synergies by 2020. As has already been communicated, the Industrial Services unit is to continue as a stand-alone division of the Arbonia Group.

Arbonia’s doors business enjoys now completely new foundations on which to build a successful future over the long term.