Cimsa, a Turkish listed building materials company – and a subsidiary of conglomerate Sabanci Holdings – has reached agreement to acquire 94.7% of Mannok for an overall enterprise value of €330m. The Mannok leadership team will retain a 5.3% interest.
Under the agreement, which is subject to customary approvals, the Mannok brand will be retained as a growth hub for Cimsa and Sabanci in Ireland and the UK, and the business will continue to be led by local management.
Mannok was the new name created for Quinn Building Products after the fall from grace of its founder, Sean Quinn, who went from billionaire to bankrupt after the 2008/09 global economic crash. The rebrand took place in 2020 (much to Sean Quinn’s frustration).
In 2023 it reported EBITDA of €44.9m on turnover of €311.9m.
Enniskillen-based Mannok is Cimsa’s third major acquisition in the past three years, following recent investments in Spain and the USA.
Employing approximately 800 staff, Mannok comprises two divisions, Building Products and Packaging. Its core activities are the production of cement, concrete, quarry and aggregate products and insulation materials, as well as the manufacture of packaging products, mainly for the food industry.
Cimsa is a subsidiary of Sabanci, a Turkish listed conglomerate that employs more than 60,000 people in 14 countries across five continents. Sabanci is engaged in a wide range of business activities including: cement and building materials, energy and climate technologies, industrials, banking and financial services, retail and digital sectors. In 2023, Sabancı delivered combined revenue of €31.5bn and consolidated net income of €600m.
Cimsa chief executive Umut Zenar said: “We believe this agreement marks the beginning of a new era for Mannok. 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 digitalisation.”
Mannok chairman Adrian Barden said: “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. 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. 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.”
Mannok chief executive Dara O’Reilly said: “At this stage of our development, securing a long term, strategic, well capitalised owner of scale, is the right move for Mannok and we look forward to working with our new colleagues at Sabanci. I wish to also acknowledge and thank the Investor Group, led by Brigade Capital Management, LP amongst others, for their unstinting and collegiate support as majority owners of the business over the past decade, following the acquisition from Share Receivership in 2014. Investor Group backing and the support and commitment of our customers and our 800 staff are the reason Mannok has grown and prospered, and why we are now optimally positioned for a new chapter of growth.”
