Vaillant group has paid €229.5m to acquire a majority interest in Turkish heating technology specialist DemirDöküm.
The Vaillant group has bought 78% of the shares in leading Turkish heating and air-conditioning specialist Türk DemirDöküm Fabrikalari A.S aka DemirDöküm, which is represented by Heatline in the UK.

The shares were sold by the Koç Group, which had held 72.56% of the company and Taylan Holding, which had a 5% interest.

Founded in 1954, DemirDöküm is one of the leading Eastern European manufacturers in the heating and air-conditioning technology sector. The Turkish firm today achieves 70% of its sales in the domestic market and achieved sales of €432m last year.

Together with DemirDöküm, the Vaillant Group aims to establish itself in Turkey and the Eastern European markets as the leading supplier of safe, energy efficient and eco-friendly heating and air conditioning technology.

Vaillant, a global heating, ventilation and air-conditioning technology group based in Germany, achieved sales totalling €2 billion in 2006 and has more than 10,000 employees. With the integration of DemirDöküm, the Vaillant group's expects its annual sales will increase from almost €2 billion to more than €2.4 billion.

Turkey is already the third-largest market in Europe for heating and ac technology; with growth supported by the nationwide expansion of gas supply - in coming years all regions are to be connected to the national gas grid - as well as its increasing prosperity and growing industrial and domestic construction industries.

'With the enlarged product portfolio and strategic synergies this acquisition supports our growth course within the Global HVAC sector,' said Vaillant group managing director Claes Göransson.

'In addition, with the integration of DemirDöküm, the Vaillant group will expand its leading position in its core business of heating, ventilation and ac technology and benefit even more strongly than before from the dynamic economic development in Eastern Europe and Turkey,' said Vaillant group managing director Dieter Müller.

The acquisition of DemirDöküm is the second largest in the history of the Vaillant group.

DemirDöküm's products are sold in 50 countries in Europe, Asia and North Africa. The company has production plants in Turkey, China and Algeria.