Hicksville, N.Y.—Tarkett has acquired Tandus Flooring. The move allows Tarkett to expand into the commercial carpet business in North America and Asia Pacific, and enhances each company’s ability to provide their customers a broader range of products and services. The transaction closed Sept. 28.
“This acquisition is aligned with our mission to enhance our customers’ return on investment and quality of life, now offering complementary solutions in both hard and soft surfaces,” said Michel Giannuzzi, Tarkett Group CEO. “Thanks to this strategic move, we will reinforce our position as a global leading flooring provider, extending our activities in the commercial carpet market in North America while further developing our footprint in the fast growing Asian markets. Leveraging the combined strength of Tandus and Tarkett, we will continue to grow faster than the market.”
With annual turnover of $340 million and 1,400 employees, Tandus serves architects, designers, end-users and service providers in the specified commercial markets in North America and Asia. It has five production sites in the U.S. and Canada and one site in China to serve the Asian markets. Tandus produces a product line that includes hybrid resilient, modular carpet, and higher-end broadloom and woven products.
Jeff Buttitta, president of Tarkett North America said the growth opportunities this acquisition creates are significant. “End users and specifiers are searching for strong partners who understand the extraordinary demands placed on projects and who have the capabilities to deliver full solutions that incorporate a wide array of products and services. Together, Tarkett and Tandus will reach $1 billion of total sales in North America.”
He noted how Tandus has earned a reputation for being an innovator through product advances such as Powerbond—the industry’s first hybrid resilient sheet. “Tandus is recognized as a design leader, winning eight Best of Neocon Awards over the past five years, including a 2012 Gold for its Needle Tech broadloom collection.”
Buttitta called Tandus a strong and profitable organization, one that has continuously increased its market share during the past five years. As such, “It will continue to operate as a separate entity within Tarkett’s North American division, maintaining current manufacturing, business operations and routes to market.”
President Glen Hussmann will continue to manage the business and will report to Buttitta, while also working with him “on developing synergistic opportunities and growing them.”
Hussmann called Tarkett “a true global company with sizeable exposure in high growth developing countries. This can provide Tandus a solid base for international expansion. Tandus and Tarkett share an aligned vision of the future and have common views on innovation and how to serve the customer. We believe this will create benefits for all of our customers.”
Buttitta told FCNews the company has been building its portfolio around a strategy of offering a full solution for its commercial customers, and that it had been looking to add a commercial carpet component for the past couple of years. “We’ve done a good job with color-coordinating our products so they work not only individually but together as a group, all with the single goal of satisfying the needs of our customers who are more and more looking for one-stop, single-source solutions. Commercial carpet is a big part of the market and we needed it to have a complete portfolio.”
He added like Tarkett, “Tandus has done a terrific job with design and branding. And, like Tarkett, it was seeking a long-term partner to leverage its strengths in carpet with complementary hard surface products. You can say we sort of found each other as we had mutual needs.”
The result of the acquisition, Buttitta noted, means, “We will now be able to offer a broad commercial portfolio of soft and hard surfaces, have a deep and experienced field organization and hold strong positions in the education, corporate and healthcare segments.”
While the organizations will maintain their own identity, with each sales force remaining intact, similar to how Tarkett has handled its Centiva purchase in 2010, Buttitta said “there could be opportunities for them to collaborate on projects at the local level.”
Beyond product and design compatibilities, the two companies share a common philosophy on the environmental front and Buttitta noted this commitment to environmental integrity played into Tarkett’s purchasing decision. “Tandus is a pioneer in environmental and sustainability practices, having launched the industry’s first closed-loop recycling program and, like us, has done a good job on its sustainability journey. We feel there are opportunities here to expand upon what both are doing and deliver even more value to our customers who are seeking companies that offer solutions from start to finish.”
As a result, he said, “We will leverage our combined resources for accelerated product innovation, integrated design activities and joint sustainability initiatives that will provide our customers with greater choice in products and services with worldwide capabilities.”
The Tandus purchase marks the third major acquisition for Tarkett in recent years—Centiva and Johnsonite being the other two—and Buttitta said if the opportunity presents itself to add another industry leader, it will. “Our shareholders and executives have a great deal of confidence in North America and have made significant investments. All of which have been strategic and strengthened both the Tarkett brand overall and what we can do on the commercial side.”
For more, call 330.283.7474 or visit tarkett.com.