March 24, 2009 – C.R. Laurence Co. Inc., (CRL), has acquired Ebor Group Holdings, Ltd. (Ebor) in Manchester, England.
C.R. Laurence Co. Inc., (CRL), has acquired Ebor Group Holdings, Ltd. (Ebor) in Manchester, England. The company is located in Rochdale, a prime industrial/commercial section of Manchester.
“Ebor was founded in 1981 by Stephen Boocock and three partners, and has grown to be a well known supplier of accessories, tools and machinery to the glazing and stone industries throughout the UK,” says Donald E. Friese, CEO of CRL, adding the CaesarStone line of quartz surfaces and the Eurofit line of architectural hardware has been rolled into its product offerings.
“We see this acquisition as the official launch of our European strategy that was announced at GlassTech in Dusseldorf in the fall of 2008.”
Ebor will act as the European headquarters for CRL Europe, and will be responsible for that operation, as well as existing CRL operation in Bad Wimpfen (Stuttgart), Germany.
CRL says it will make substantial investments in facilities in both the UK and Germany. In Rochdale, the company will immediately begin construction on a 7,000 square metre facility, which is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2010. This facility will be in addition to the existing facilities with over 3,500 square metres of floor space.
CRL will install its information technology systems used throughout the company, worldwide, to manage the 50,000 item product line, which will be integrated into the existing Ebor range of products. It will also introduce its successful “rapid customization” process to the European market to provide products to customer specifications with lead times similar to “off-the-shelf” products.
In addition, Friese announced that a 3,000 square metre facility has been purchased in Ilsfeld, outside of Stuttgart and, after some modifications are completed, will open in June 2009.
“We believe that the expansion of these facilities will make CRL one of the best suppliers to the glazing industry in Europe with over 13,500 square metres of floor space dedicated to distribution of its extensive line of products,” says Friese.
Print this page
Leave a Reply