Bathroom giant Norcros Group has acquired wall panelling brand Fibo, in a takeover deal worth approximately £45m.
Once the deal has been formally cleared, Fibo will join other brands such as Johnson Tiles, Triton, Merlyn, Vado, Abode and Grant Westfield, under the umbrella of the Norcros Group.
Founded in 1952, the decorative wall panelling business has a production facility in Lyngdal, Norway. For the 2024 financial year, Fibo Group closed the period with net sales of NOK 856.3m (approximately £63m) and pre-tax profits of NOK 100.0m (around £7.3m). Last year, roughly 70% of Fibo’s sales came from mainland Europe and 30% came from the UK market.
Following the acquisition, Fibo’s chief executive officer Anders Carlson will also join Norcros as part of the deal. According to Norcros, the takeover of Fibo aligns with its strategy “to acquire and grow capital-light, scalable businesses operating in high-growth product segments”, and is consistent with its ongoing strategy.
Norcros said that because the bathroom market across Scandinavia and central Europe is roughly the same size as the UK market, it is confident that Fibo’s expertise and management will help grow its share of the market across Europe.
“This strategically aligned acquisition gives Norcros a strong platform to accelerate our geographic expansion in this attractive, fast-growing segment of the wall coverings market,” said Thomas Willcocks, Norcros CEO.
He continued: “Decorative wall panels is a product category that we understand well following our acquisition of Grant Westfield in 2022. Fibo Group have an excellent and well-established management team, a well-invested modern operation, and importantly, a reputation that aligns with our culture. We look forward to working with Anders and his team to accelerate their growth plans as we take this next important step in building a market-leading, capital-light, cash-generative bathroom business of scale.”
Similarly, Fibo Group CEO Anders Carlson commented: “We are excited to be joining Norcros and driving forward with the next stage of our growth plan. We share a common understanding of the growth potential and sustainability benefits of decorative wall panels as an emerging alternative to tiles and together, we will be able to realise the benefits of scale. The transaction will enable us to accelerate our growth plans, offering opportunities for our staff and customers.”
Norcros already has a considerable stake in the UK bathroom panelling market following its acquisition of Grant Westfield in 2022. In fact, Fibo Group and Grant Westfield will now have a combined revenue of more than £100m.
Following the announcement of the acquisition, the competitions and markets authority (CMA) said it is now considering whether or not to investigate the deal, specifically in regards to the takeover raising competition concerns in the UK market. The CMA is inviting comments into the case until July 30.
Addressing these concerns, Norcros Group said it expects the clearance process from the CMA will take approximately three to four months.