Building materials group Kingspan Group has agreed a €98m (£68m) takeover of housing developer and timber frame home manufacturer Century Homes.
The deal between the two Irish companies, which both have UK operations, involves €74m in cash upfront and €24m related to profit growth, which will be paid over three years.
Century founder and CEO Gerry McCaughey will remain with the business and work alongside the Kingspan management team.
With operations in London, Cardiff, Newcastle, Dungarvan, Monaghan and Longford, Century employs 460 people and claims to be the biggest timber frame building company in Europe.
At present, the company has 40% of the timber frame housing market in Ireland and produces approximately 6,000 buildings pa – one in 10 of all new Irish houses.
Earlier this year, it won a €5.5m contract to build over 300 affordable homes in the north-east of England.
Mr McCaughey said: “When we began trading in 1990, timber frame accounted for just 1% of the total new houses in Ireland.
“Today, timber frame homes account for 25% of the market, and it is growing every year. I firmly believe we will see market share continue to rise until it reaches over 50% of Irish house starts.”
Gene Murtagh, CEO of Kingspan, said: “Century has almost single-handedly pioneered modern methods of construction in the Irish, and more recently UK residential markets.
“The acquisition, when combined with Kingspan’s existing off-site operations, will vastly enhance Kingspan’s capability to become the leading player in the off-site, low-energy home construction market in the UK and Ireland.”
References: EGi News 17/03/05
