AUSTRIA - The Egger Group, one of the largest global wooden panel manufacturers, continues its growth course and takes over the Rauch plant in Markt Bibart, Germany. The purchase agreement was signed on 8 September 2023.

With the purchase of the Rauch particleboard plant in Markt Bibart, Germany, the Egger Group is consistently pursuing its strategy of growth based on its own performance and is able to further strengthen its position in its home market Europe. After the sale, the Rauch Group will focus fully on the further development of its furniture plants in order to further expand its strong market position.

The particleboard plant in Markt Bibart, near Würzburg, has so far belonged to the Rauch Group, a family company with a long tradition. The company has been manufacturing and selling high-quality furniture for over 125 years. In 1958, Rauch took over the particleboard plant and from then on was able to produce its own particleboard for furniture manufacturing. The particleboard plant now supplies not only Rauch furniture plants but also other national and international furniture and door customers.

"Since the share of deliveries to third-party customers and thus the product range has increased continuously in recent years, we have gradually detached ourselves from the original business idea. In order to remain competitive in the chipboard market in the long term, high expansion investments are required. The Egger Group has the power to leverage the potential of the Markt Bibart location and Rauch can now fully focus on the further development of the furniture plants," says Rainer Hribar, CEO of the Rauch Group.

Subject to approval by the cartel law authorities, the chipboard plant in Markt Bibart will be the 22nd production plant of the globally active Egger Group. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price and further details of the transaction. The Rauch Group's furniture plants remain unaffected by the takeover.

The plant in Markt Bibart has facilities for the production of raw particleboard with a capacity of up to 650,000 m3 annually. The supply of Rauch furniture plants will continue in the long term even after the takeover by the Egger Group. In addition, Egger sees great opportunities to expand the business model in Germany by supplying fixed dimension boards to customers.