vandaglas, a subsidiary of the Aequita Group, was established in 2019 through the acquisition of the Dutch Glassolutions B.V. Currently, the vandaglas group comprises six companies with 15 locations in the Netherlands, the German-speaking countries and the UK and employs approximately 900 people. The group achieves an annual turnover of approximately 200 million euros.
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An important goal of those responsible is to establish vandaglas as one of the leading glass processors in Europe. After the successful integration and reorientation of the acquired companies, the main focus is on sustainable profitable growth. The group focuses on high quality in both products and service. And it does so on the basis of high-quality and innovative glass products in the insulating glass and safety glass segments as well as a variety of special glasses, including curved insulating and safety glass.
vandaglas in the German-speaking countries
In the course of its expansion, vandaglas has taken over several glass processors in the German-speaking countries in recent years, including Döring Glas in Berlin and Flachglaswerk Radeburg, both of which now trade as vandaglas GmbH. In Austria, vandaglas Eckelt and vandaglas Ziegler belong to the group. In June, vandaglas AG in Switzerland was added as an acquisition. vandaglas' expansion strategy includes both organic growth and targeted acquisitions. The company continuously reviews potential acquisition opportunities and carefully evaluates which market segments it wants to be active in.
In conversation with Lukas Himmel
Aequita
Glaswelt: Mr Himmel, in recent years vandaglas has taken over well-known glass companies in the German-speaking countries, what role do they play in the structure of vandaglas?
Lukas Himmel: An important one. Each company has its strengths and thus contributes to being able to offer our customers better solutions. For example, vandaglas Eckelt and Döring - with both of them we have significantly increased our global footprint, realised many exciting projects, expanded our product portfolio and, above all, gained a lot of know-how.
GW-News: vandaglas is active in various countries. How independently can the individual subsidiaries act and from where is the entire group controlled?
The group creates structures and synergies that cannot be achieved by the individual companies, or not with the same efficiency. Nevertheless, the independence of the individual companies is very important so that their strengths are not lost and they can cover the needs of our customers in the best possible way. Officially, Arnhem is our headquarters, although the group management commutes between the locations to be in close contact with all the teams.
GW News: Who are your customers and who are your basic glass suppliers?
We serve many customer segments, from large, global façade builders to regional façade builders, window manufacturers, glaziers and even the carpenter next door. The important thing is that we want to create added value for our customers in all segments, in a spirit of partnership. As I said, customer benefit comes first and we have worked well with the many basic glass suppliers in recent years. What always counts for us is the idea of partnership and the shared curiosity to develop something new. Historically, we have a close relationship with the Saint Gobain teams.
GW-News: Where do you see challenges?
Currently, the effects of the inflation-related interest rate policy, which has a strong impact on the new construction business. This is a challenge for our industry, where it is important to act calmly and, in particular, to keep prices stable. In addition, as in almost all industries, the topics of sustainability and digitalisation are of great importance. Both topics are actively addressed by us and form one of the foundations of our strategy.
Kees Hummel
GW-News: How have the acquisitions affected the employees?
In the many conversations I have with our employees at all locations, it is clear that they are satisfied with our development. It is important that we involve them in decisions and, above all, in the development of solutions. This works through flat hierarchies and a good culture of making mistakes. We motivate our employees to contribute ideas and, above all, to implement them, which also includes being allowed to "fail". In short, we value a dynamic environment in which employees think and act entrepreneurially.
GW-News: What advantages does vandaglas expect from the recent takeover of the Saint-Gobain operations in Switzerland?
The acquisition gives us significantly improved access to the very interesting Swiss market. We are convinced that we as a group, but also our new colleagues in Switzerland, will benefit from the joint network. The time we have spent together so far has been very interesting and there are many exciting ideas for the further development of the Swiss business. The focus is on creating added value for our customers with innovative and high-quality products. In addition, we benefit from our established market position and the corresponding distribution channels, which we can now also use for other products from our group. This underlines the core of the vandaglas group, the use of synergies. With each new company we integrate, we strengthen our competitiveness and give our customers access to our comprehensive glass network through local contacts.
GW-News: What is your growth strategy?
The vandaglas brand has been around for more than two years now, our first acquisition in the Netherlands was a good four years ago, followed by others in Germany, Great Britain, Austria and now Switzerland. Among them are companies that do not belong to Saint-Gobain. All in all, we have achieved significant inorganic growth in a short time, which was only possible thanks to the strong cooperation of all vandaglas teams and our investor Aequita. For me, this is a success story that we will continue to write. Our goal is to generate a turnover of more than 250 million euros per year in the medium term. In doing so, it will become increasingly important to focus on organic and profitable growth. But acquisitions will also continue to play an important role. There are still too many attractive markets and product segments that we want to occupy.
The interview was conducted by Matthias Rehberger
About vandaglas
vandaglas Group
The vandaglas Group, a subsidiary of Aequita, was created in 2019 through the acquisition of the Dutch Glassolutions B.V. from Saint-Gobain. It comprises six companies with 15 locations in the Netherlands, the UK and the DACH region. The group currently generates annual sales of around 200 million euros and employs around 900 people.
