A Turkish company has bought a 94.7% stake in Mannok, the building materials and packaging group made up of assets once owned by the businessman Sean Quinn.
Sabanci Building Solutions is a subsidiary of Cimsa, which is part of the Istanbul-headquartered Sabanci Group.
The deal values Mannok at €330m, with deductions made to the purchase price for debt.
Local Mannok leadership will retain a 5.3% stake after the deal completes and the Mannok brand will be retained.
“Cimsa and the broader Sabanci group are a superb fit for Mannok as new long term, strategic owners with excellent sustainability credentials and know-how,” said Adrian Barden, chairman of Mannok.
“The group is steeped in cement manufacture and building products and, as a diverse conglomerate, it also has interests in retail and food, important sectors for our packaging business,” he said.
“We are very pleased that Sabanci has endorsed the Mannok brand and has agreed to back local management’s plans to accelerate our sustainability and growth ambitions,” he added.
Mannok produces and sells cement, cement products like roof tiles and precast concrete, insulation materials and recycled plastic packaging products.
It has production facilities in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and a sales and distribution network spanning the island of Ireland and Great Britain.
The company employs 800 people.
In the year to the end of June, it had sales of €293.7m and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of €57.5m.
Headquartered in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh, Mannok’s businesses were formerly a part of the former Quinn Group of companies.
Sean Quinn lost control of the Quinn Group of businesses in 2011 following a failed multibillion euro bet on the share price of Anglo Irish Bank, which collapsed during the financial crisis.
The collective assets were renamed Aventas by the new management in 2013.
But the Quinn name returned in 2014 when it was bought out of receivership by a local consortium of businessmen which included eight former senior executives of Quinn Group.
They were backed by three US hedge funds, Brigade Capital, Contrarian Capital and Silver Point Capital, who were the majority owners.
Sean Quinn returned as consultant but left in 2016 amid growing tensions with the management team.
The company was rebranded as Mannok in September 2020, after the Irish word for Fermanagh where it has its roots.
It continues to be a successful company in the building materials and packaging sectors, with earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation last year of €45m, up from €26m a year earlier
Sabanci employs over 60,000 people in 14 countries across five continents and operates in a wide range of businesses, including cement and building materials, energy and climate technologies, industrials, banking and financial services, retail and digital sectors.
Last year it had combined revenue of €31.5 billion and consolidated net income of €600 million.
Founded in Mersin in 1972, Cimsa has manufacturing operations in three factories in Turkey, an integrated cement plant in Spain, a cement grinding facility in the USA and terminals in Germany, Spain, Italy and the TRNC.
“We believe this agreement marks the beginning of a new era for Mannok,” said Umut Zenar, CEO of Cimsa.
“At Cimsa our model is to back great local businesses and management, and we look forward to creating new employment opportunities in the region as we support Mannok’s continuing growth and sustainability ambitions.”
“Given its border location, Mannok has unique access to UK and EU markets, and we see it as a key stepping stone in expanding our footprint in Western Europe.”
“For Mannok staff, joining the Sabanci ecosystem will also present a world of opportunity for career development and progression and exposure to innovation in product development, sustainability, and digitalization.”
