Bulgaria’s competition regulator approved the sale of Ideal Standard

The Bulgarian Commission on Protection of Competition (CPC) allowed the German chain Villeroy & Boch to buy the Belgian Ideal Standard Group. The deal also includes one of the largest factories in Bulgaria - the one for sanitary ware in Sevlievo. The production there is one of the largest under the umbrella of the Belgian company worldwide.

The acquisition was officially announced in the fall of 2023, but it had been talked about even before the outbreak of the Covid pandemic. The deal has also been approved by regulators in Austria, Egypt, France, Germany, Russia, Romania, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Trinidad and Tobago. It is worth about 600 million euros.

The German manufacturer currently has 12 bases in Europe and one in Asia. On the Old Continent, they are mainly located in Germany, but they also have a presence in Romania, France, Hungary, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands. The company is a manufacturer of sanitary ceramics under the brands Alföldi, Signature, Gustavsberg, Mondial, Nahm Sanitaryware, Sanipa, Vatette, Like and Vivo.

Ideal Standard Group operates eight manufacturing facilities that produce products for all major bathroom ceramic categories and markets them under a series of Ideal Standard, Armitage, Shanks, Porcher and Vidima brands.

Villeroy & Boch's aim with the transaction is to improve its product range and strengthen its sales strategies by including an additional assortment in its portfolio.

The deal will enable the company to serve more clients, particularly in relation to projects in the public and healthcare sectors, in large-scale residential, hotel and commercial real estate; plus, this will strengthen its regional presence where it is currently limited. As a result, Villeroy & Boch will compete more effectively with the large and established manufacturers of bathroom ware, as well as with new competitors who import such products from China, Turkey and other countries.

In Bulgaria

In Bulgaria, Ideal Standard Group has a factory for sanitary fittings and ceramics in Sevlievo. The subsidiary also functions as a main supply center for markets in Eastern Europe. Locally, production is marketed mainly under the brands Vidima and Ideal Standard.

The last published report of the Bulgarian subsidiary in the Commercial Registry of the country dates to 2021 and shows that there were just over 3,000 people employed in it. The generated turnover was nearly 250 million euros.

In addition to Bulgaria, the company also manufactures products in Egypt, the Czech Republic, Italy, Germany and Great Britain. The group also operates innovation centers in the UK and Germany, as well as a global design center in Milan.

Competition

According to the regulator's decision, there are no fears that the deal would have a significant impact on the competition balance in the market. CPC also indicates that the two companies involved are not direct competitors. Villeroy & Boch operates in the upper price range of bathroom ware in Bulgaria, while Ideal Standard offers a wider portfolio for the same market, focused on lower price segments. The distribution channels of the two companies are also different, mainly due to the price difference of the products from their portfolio.

The Commission on the Protection of Competition also points out that the Bulgarian sanitary ware market is characterized by a wide presence of large international manufacturers as well as local ones.

Translated by Tzvetozar Vincent Iolov