Pamesa continues its unstoppable growth with the acquisition of Azuliber

The Spanish ceramic giant continues its expansion, completing another acquisition in the Castellón district and targeting revenues of 1,100 million euros

If the Pamesa Group’s 2021 goals announced by Fernando Roig in June (see CWR 142 p.48) were already pointing to exceptional growth (production capacity up 40%, tile sales of 130 million sqm and consolidated revenues of 900 million euros compared to the 782 million euros of 2020), with the announcement of the acquisition of Azuliber at the beginning of September the chairman of Europe’s largest tile group has further revised up his forecasts: the consolidated revenues of Pamesa Grupo Empresarial are now likely to reach 1.1 billion euros (up 40% on 2020), including 900 million euros generated in the ceramic tile segment (up 45% compared to the 616 million euros of 2020).

Given its scale, the acquisition of the Azuliber group is an extremely significant operation for Spain’s Castellón ceramic district and a strategic move for Pamesa.

Azuliber is more than just a large tile manufacturer. Its six factories (Cerámicas Myr, Azulejera Alcorense, Click Cerámica, Valentia Ceramics, Oset and Azulejos Plaza, acquired last spring) have a dozen kilns that produce a total of 3 million square metres of tiles a month, or 36 million sqm a year, and will help Pamesa meet a constantly growing demand that still exceeds the group’s capacity despite its ongoing investments aimed at expanding production.

Azuliber is also an important player in the raw materials segment (it owns several red and white clay quarries in Spain) and in the production and supply of spray-dried clay through its two companies Azuliber and Amizalsa, which operate a total of 10 spray-drying plants.

The Azuliber Group is expected to post consolidated revenues of around 160 million euros in 2021.

The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, comes on top of the 70 million euro investment plan that Fernando Roig had already announced for 2021, which includes the installation of new kilns, office refurbishment at the headquarters, construction of a logistics centre and clay warehouse, and modernisation of Pulidos Pamesa with the installation of new finishing equipment.