Wienerberger

Wienerberger is an Austrian brick manufacturer, the world's largest manufacturer of bricks and ceramic tiles in Europe, as well as concrete stacks in Central and Eastern Europe.

History

2024: Stroymix buys Russian Wienerberger plants

The Russian company Stroymix bought two factories in the Vladimir region from the world's largest brick manufacturer Wienerberger. Financial and other parameters of the transaction are not disclosed.

As RBC writes with reference to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRUL), Stroymix became the owner of the companies Wienerberger Kurkachi and Wienerberger Brick, on the balance sheet of which Wienerberger enterprises. Stroymix itself belongs to businessman Aleksei Filin. Previously, he served as president of the regional sambo federation in Bryansk. According to local media reports, the businessman's father Leonid Filin served as head of the administration of the Karachevsky district of the Bryansk region.

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The publication also says that Filin already owns a number of assets in the construction industry. Thus, the structures associated with it are controlled by the Bryansk Silicate Plant and the Klintsovsky Silicate Plant in the Bryansk Region. In addition, in November 2022, his company Business-Invest bought Atakaycement from Trust Bank in the Krasnodar Territory.

Wienerberger confirmed to the publication the fact of concluding a deal to sell Russian assets and noted that its structure turned out to be very difficult in the context of constantly changing legislation, but "the sale of local business to a Russian family group was successfully completed." According to a Wienerberger spokesman, the deal with Stroymix completed Wienerberger's withdrawal from the Russian market.

Wienerberger's total investments in Russian enterprises since entering the Russian market have exceeded €60 million, said Mikhail Burmistrov, head of Infoline Analytics. The actual cost of enterprises, taking into account the depreciation of equipment, according to him, was about 4.5 billion rubles. At the same time, the amount of the deal with Stroymix hardly exceeded 2 billion rubles, the expert noted.^[1]

2022: Sale of Russian business to local management

On June 15, 2022, the world's largest manufacturer of ceramic building materials Wienerberger announced the sale of Russian business to local leadership. After the closure of the transaction, the Austrian company will leave the Russian market.

{{quote 'As a company aware of its responsibility, Wienerberger Group decided to sell its Russian enterprises in connection with the Russian-Ukrainian conflict... It was decided that local management would take over the management of the Russian business by buying it out, the manufacturer said in a statement published on its website. }}

The world's largest manufacturer of ceramic building materials Wienerberger sells Russian business to local management

According to Wienerberger CEO Heimo Scheuch, in accordance with the company's actively pursued sustainable development policy and obligations to its local employees, it has become clear that transferring business in the Russian Federation to local management is the best possible solution to ensure continuity for everyone.

Wienerberger did not name the buyers of its Russian assets or the value of the transaction. The company has been active in Russia since 2005. The company owns two plants in Russia - Winerberger Brick and Winerberger Kurkachi. The company estimates annual revenue from sales of ceramic blocks in Russia Wienerberger at €40 million per year, which corresponds to less than 1% of the group's turnover.

By June 2022, Wienerberger has 195 factories in 30 countries and is the largest manufacturer of construction ceramics. Wienerberger factories produce: large-format Porotherm ceramic blocks, Terca facing bricks, Koramic and Tondach ceramic tiles, Penter clinker paving stones. In addition to construction ceramics, the concern offers related materials: masonry mixtures, plaster, basalt mesh, etc.^[2]

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