The Egger Group acquires a majority stake in the Italian recycling company Cartfer Urbania. The purchase contract was signed on 27 March 2024.
Egger – a company specialising in the production of semi-finished wood products – has announced the acquisition of 60 per cent of the shares of the Italian recycling company Cartfer Urbania, based in Urbania, in the Marche region, in the heart of the Italian furniture industry. This new site further increases the international network of recycling collection sites that the manufacturer of wood-based materials operates under the name Egger Timberpak.
“This investment,” explained the group in the press release issued on the occasion of the announcement, “lays the foundation for the first recycling collection centre in Italy. With the expansion of the collection and processing infrastructure for recycled wood at group level, Egger pursues its strategic goals of further increasing the percentage of used wood from recycling and securing the supply of raw materials through upstream integration”.
The previous owner of Cartfer Urbania, Sara Burani, will continue to be part of the management team. The team of eight experienced employees will be taken over. The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price and further details about the transaction.
“Italy has an excellent recycling system. We can benefit enormously from this know-how thanks to the majority investment in Cartfer Urbania and the great expertise of its workforce. Our chipboard plant in Caorso (IT) uses 100 per cent recycled wood. Now we can make a valuable resource such as recycled wood even more available for our production there”, said Giuseppe Conti, Plant Manager Finance/Administration of the Caorso plant, emphasising the strategic contribution of the majority shareholding.
CARTFER URBANIA
Cartfer Urbania has been a recycling specialist since 2017. For more than five years, it has also been a supplier to the Italian wood-based materials manufacturer Saib in Caorso, which has been part of the Egger Group since December 2022. “This important step will allow the company to grow faster in order to be able to face future challenges with more confidence. It is an excellent growth opportunity for all of us,” commented Sara Burani.
INTEGRATION
Egger has been using recycled wood in the production of new, high-quality chipboard for almost 30 years. The material comes from waste products such as old furniture, packaging material or production residues. To ensure the supply of post-consumer recycled wood to its plants, Egger relies on active vertical integration and operates its own recycling collection centres under the name Egger Timberpak. In these centres, recycled wood from the respective region is collected, sorted and pre-shredded, which is then transported to the Egger plants. Here the final processing takes place, through special plants. ‘This results in a high-quality board material from recycled raw materials – perfectly in line with the circular economy”, concludes the release.
