The XPS production facility became part of AkzoNobel following the acquisition of Fabryo in October 2018.
The transaction, which includes the XPS production facility in Tunari (southern Romania), along with 22 manufacturing and technical professionals, is scheduled to close in the second quarter of 2023. The representatives of the two companies did not disclose the value of the deal.
“AkzoNobel wants to focus on their key area of expertise. Except for Romania, AkzoNobel has no other XPS plants. So, for XPS, AkzoNobel’s strategy is to build toll manufacturing partnerships with strong players like HIRSCH Porozell and focus on branding and the commercialization part,” said Alexandra Chirica, Country Commercial Director of AkzoNobel Romania.
Currently, the XPS products are sold under AkzoNobel’s APLA brand. Through this intended divestiture, AkzoNobel will be able to streamline its footprint to a single production site in Romania and continue to offer XPS products under the APLA brand through collaboration with manufacturing specialists in this category,(including with the buying company).
“This acquisition in Romania is a unique opportunity for us to enter the XPS production and serves as start to grow the XPS business in our group of companies,” said Harald Kogler, CEO of HIRSCH Servo, of which Hirsch Porozell is part of.
“We are expanding our existing EPS insulation production to include XPS insulation boards, which are used particularly in areas with extreme pressure and moist, such as in basement wall insulation or flat roof insulation. With the acquisition of this production site near Bucharest, we now have five insulation production sites in Romania (Cluj, Timisoara, Sfantu Gheorghe, Bragadiru and Tunari in the Bucharest area) and are gaining highly qualified employees,” added Marius Schweitzer, Managing Director of HIRSCH Porozell S.r.l.
AkzoNobel is present in over 150 countries, supplying sustainable paints and coatings. The company enhanced its presence on the Romanian market after acquiring the local decorative paints producer Fabryo Corporation in 2018.
HIRSCH Servo Group is present in ten European countries with 32 production facilities. The group entered the Romanian market in 2006, where it tallied four production units, according to data published on its website prior to the acquisition.