Wolseley pays £390m for French materials firm

Wolseley has acquired French materials business Pinault Bois & Materiaux (PBM) for £390m.

The specialist distributor of plumbing, heating and building material products put in an offer for PBM on 24 April 2003. The offer was approved by the competition authorities on 3 July and completion took place yesterday (Monday).

The deal was financed from Wolseley's existing resources.

PBM is the second largest heavyside distributor in France with a market share of just over 8% on a national basis. Approximately 85% of PBM's business relates to the distribution of building materials and 15% to the importation and distribution of timber.

For the year ended 31 December 2002, PBM reported sales of £897m and operating profit, before goodwill amortisation, of £49.9m.

Wolseley will appoint Jacques-Regis Descours, to have overall responsibility for the PBM business, in addition to his responsibility as chief executive of Brossette, Wolseley's existing French business. The key operational management of PBM will stay with the business and join the Wolseley Group.