Matteo, Reinhard, Franz and Hans Binder (from left) © Binderholz Gruppe
Binderholz outbid Mercer and Mayr-Melnhof Holz and won the bid at US-$ 61 million, as Binderholz communicates in a press release (see article “Binderholz acquires Klausner Lumber One”). Binderholz expects the closing of the transaction to take place in October.
For the Binderholz group, this step is another milestone in the company’s history. For the first time, the company will produce outside of Europe. According to Binderholz, the sawmill’s location in central Florida “is one of the growth regions for Southern Yellow Pine which is very popular in the US”. “This ensures a high availability of log wood at a price level which has been very stable in the last years. Furthermore, the east of the US is one of the most populous areas in the States which means that there is the respective demand,” informs Binderholz.
CEO Reinhard Binder explains the strategic reasons: “We see the American solid timber market as a strategic target and growth market for the Binderholz group. The US are by far the world’s biggest consumer of wood – and demand is increasing. After the founding of Binderholz Timber Inc., Atlanta, USA in 2019 and a consequent and successful building-up of the market, the US are going to be one the most important sales markets for Binderholz in 2020, with more than 450,000 m³ of planed products and sales of around € 170 million. The purchase of our own production site on the biggest global market for solid timber was thus the next logical step. We want to further develop our successful business model in the US as well.”
The purchased sawmill Klausner Lumber One LLC has an annual cutting capacity of more than 1 million m³ of log wood and a processing capacity of over 500,000 m³ of sawn and planed timber. Production at the site in Florida is to be resumed at the end of 2020 at the latest. With this takeover, around 7 million m³ of logs are going to be cut each year in Binderholz’s eight sawmills in Austria, Germany, Finland and the US. Of the 4 million m³ of sawn timber, nearly 3 million m³ of solid timber products are to be produced. In total, the group operates 13 production sites.
Thanks to Binderholz Timber and its employees, the Binderholz group has a very good network and customer contacts in the US already. In the past years, the company was able to complete numerous projects in the US through Binderholz Bausysteme. With the purchase of its own production site in the US, Binderholz wants to further strengthen its presence on this market and advance the internationalization and diversification of the market and production.
By complying with all hygiene and safety standards, the Binderholz group was able to produce at full capacity at all of its production sites despite the corona pandemic and as a result, did not only keep all of its employees but even hired new ones. With this investment, Binderholz is going to see its sales rise from the more than € 1.3 billion a year which the group currently records.
