Saint-Gobain acquires the North American Kaycan, the leader in siding

Saint-Gobain announced on the evening of Tuesday May 31 the acquisition for 928 million US dollars (approximately 860 M EUR) of Kaycan, a North American family business producing and distributing building materials and exterior coverings, number one siding.

Kaycan, which employs 1.300 people at 12 production sites in the United States and Canada, "is a major player in renovation materials", in particular for facade cladding, wood siding, vinyl, composite and aluminum, indicated Benoit Bazin, CEO of Saint-Gobain during a brief interview with the press.

This acquisition, which should be finalized “by the end of 2022”, is doubly in line with the strategy of the French group, which invests in sustainable construction and wishes to develop in North America, underlined Mr. Bazin.

In total, Saint-Gobain's turnover in the United States "will exceed 10 billion dollars in 2022", against 6,5 billion USD in 2018, he specified.

Saint-Gobain plans to sell 10 distribution agencies belonging to Kaycan in the United States, whose annual turnover amounts to 70 million dollars.

In Canada, the group will keep all the very strong presence of Kaycan, and in particular its "solid and integrated" distribution network which will also be used to distribute Saint-Gobain products, indicated Mr. Bazin.

The buyback operation is financed in cash. "This is the second time in a year that we have carried out an over-the-counter purchase operation after that of Chryso", the French leader in construction chemicals, indicated Mr. Bazin.

"We were the ones who went for this family company founded in 1974" because of a "perfect alignment of activities" of the two groups, he said.