Advent, eyes Romanian construction supplies market

US investment group Advent International, whose Romanian interests include Terapia Cluj-Napoca and Euromedia Bucharest, has recently acquired one of the largest domestic producers of construction supplies in Poland, Bolix, together with several Polish managers. Advent representatives say the interest in construction materials producers is regional and that Romania is one of the markets contemplated in this regard. “We are very interested in the Romanian construction materials industry, especially in the context of the experience we have gained from our investment in Materis, France, and now in Bolix, Poland,” Emma Popa-Radu, Advent representative in Romania, told Ziarul Financiar. Materis is the former special materials unit of Lafarge, sold by the French group in order to get the money to buy Blue Circle, UK’s largest cement producer. Advent led the consortium that bought Materis, a company with annual sales of almost 2 billion dollars. Advent is one of the largest private equity companies in the world and is very actively involved in the Central and Eastern Europe, as well. ZF