NEWS 5
LIXIL and GDWT-SA acquisition deal concluded to form LIXIL Africa
LIXIL Group Corporation, a global leader in the housing and building industry, has announced that its major subsidiary, LIXIL Corporation, will acquire all outstanding shares of Grohe Dawn Watertech Holdings Proprietary Limited( GDWT) from Distribution and Warehousing Network Limited( DAWN).
The announcement was made mid-September 2017. LIXIL was the current controlling shareholder of GDWT with a 51 % stake. LIXIL will now obtain the remaining 49 % of ordinary shares in GDWT from DAWN, and GDWT will repay DAWN’ s shareholder loan for an aggregate amount of R324.5-million. The closing of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and approvals.
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“ LIXIL is expanding the global footprint of its water technology business with this transaction,” says Kinya Seto, LIXIL CEO and president.“ Full ownership of GDWT will strategically position us for growth in South Africa and the emerging markets of sub-Saharan Africa. This transaction also allows us greater flexibility in managing the brand portfolio and business strategy in this region. We have already seen steady progress in strengthening GDWT’ s governance and operational efficiency, with strong support from HQ teams on financial management, supply chain and manufacturing, quality, marketing and other activities. Taking full control of the business will allow us to accelerate these activities and, ultimately, generate sustainable long-term performance and growth in this important region.” Following completion of the transaction, DAWN will remain a master distributor for GDWT. The GDWT corporate entity will be rebranded as LIXIL Africa, in line with the business’ s vision to be the region’ s leading water technology company by 2021.
“ This is an exciting step forward for GDWT,” says Henk Suelmann, CEO of GDWT.“ We are set to evolve to become a key part of the global LIXIL footprint via an integration process that will feature investment as well as strong support from Japan and other parts of the network. This will allow us to deliver high-quality service and worldclass products to our customers. We want to see everyone in Africa experience one of our brands, and we believe that as part of LIXIL, this now becomes a real possibility.”
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At the Krugersdorp factory, Henk Suelmann( CEO of GDWT)( on left) and Natie van der Westhuizen( COO-Cobra), showing the new machinery and improvements to the factory. The new red machine in Foundry is a IMR low-pressure diecast machine. Its main technological advantages include the deskilling of the casting process, the ability to produce highly complex casting designs, the quality |
STRATEGIC POSITIONING FOR GROWTH IN SA AND EMERGING MARKETS“ What this opens up for us on the sales and technical support side, is very meaningful in terms of innovation in our factories, which ultimately leads to innovation through our brands. What you will now see in our facilities is that there has already been a huge improvement in how we manufacture, our new processes( through Kaizen and 5S methodologies), as well as new machinery. This allows for a higher level of technical competence and better quality, which ultimately leads to better products. of casting integrity, and productivity improvements.
2. The two blue machines in the machine shop are CNC machine centres. Main technological advantages: increased flexibility in a volume declining and bigger variety market, and improved quality and productivity.
Plumbing Africa spoke further with Henk Suelmann, to gain greater insight into what this deal means for the company and all the GDWT brands.
“ In terms of our primary role, it is much clearer now with LIXIL being the 100 % shareholder and with the new structure, we can act and think again as a manufacturer. Continued on page 7 >>
www. plumbingafrica. co. za November 2017 Volume 23 I Number 9