Secondary Buyout Investments

Gerflor

Activity

Gerflor, headquartered in Villeurbanne (69), is specialised in the manufacture and distribution of vinyl (PVC) flooring for professional as well as residential applications. The group employs more than 1900 people around the world and operates 7 production facilities located in France, in Ireland, in Germany, in China and in Thailand. In 2006, the group achieved a turnover of €360 million, up 7% compared to 2005.

Gerflor sells most of its products to professionals through its divisions in Contract (healthcare, education, housing, industry, etc.), Transport (bus/cars, aircrafts, trains) and Sport (tennis, handball, badminton, volley-ball, multi-sport centres, etc.) and also to private individuals for residential uses. It enjoys leadership positions in most of its markets (n°2 in Europe, n°3 in the world and n°1 in Sport/Transport). Gerflor’s strengths mainly stem from its dedicated sales force of more than 300 people, its marketing strategy, its highly-recognised brands (Gerflorâ,Taraflexâ, Mipolamâ, Texlineâ, etc.) and its innovation capacity.

Strategy

AXA Private Equity strategy is to support the management team in order to double the size of the group in the coming years. Gerflor enjoys positive organic growth prospects thanks to the natural growth of its underlying markets (+4/5% p.a.), the penetration of new markets and the acceleration of the development in fast-growing areas (Russia, Eastern Europe, China and Latin America). Therefore, value creation will come from top line growth (international development and reinforcement of commercial and marketing resources), product-mix improvement and productivity efficiency as well as strategic build-up opportunities.