Kingspan’s acquires firm in €109m deal

Kingspan has acquired the building products division of Canadian group Vicwest for Can$154.4m (€109.4m).

The acquisition comprises three insulated panel manufacturing plants and a number of profiling facilities across Canada and the US. It will further strengthen the Cavan-headquartered building insulation specialist’s presence in North America, a key market for the group.

The deal is reliant on regulatory approval and the go-ahead from Vicwest’s shareholders, but is expected to conclude during the first quarter of 2015.

Kingspan chief executive Gene Murtagh said the move “boosts Kingspan’s ability to drive conversions of the North American construction market to more energy-efficient insulated panels, coming at a time when the energy agenda in North America is becoming increasingly persuasive”.

The terms of the deal are such that Kingspan will effectively buy Vicwest in its entirety before it is broken up. The break-up will see the aforementioned building products division go to Kingspan and the Winnipeg-based Westeel grain storage and liquid storage manufacturing subsidiary go to fellow Canadian business Ag Growth International (AGI). The entire Vicwest deal will cost Can$376m, with AGI funding the Westeel element of the sale to the tune of Can$221.5m.

Kingspan’s management has made no secret of its desire and capacity to do more deals. The Vicwest deal follows on from Kingspan’s recent €61m takeover of the building insulation division of US group Pactiv and comes days after it guiding for a near 20% jump in profits this year.