International Timber joins STARK Group

International Timber has joined STARK Group. The acquisition first announced on the 12 December confirmed that International Timbers’ parent company had reached an agreement to sell International Timber to STARK Group. This sale has completed, and International Timber are now wholly owned by STARK Group.

International Timber has now joined one of the fastest growing merchants and distribution groups in Europe and a business completely focused on its expertise in distributing building materials for tradespeople. The International Timber brand name, much recognised and respected by those in the industry will continue and International Timber will become part of the UK subsidiary of STARK Group, STARK Building Materials UK.

Paul Martin, managing director of International Timber, said: “STARK Group is a leading distributor of building materials across Europe and their business will bring their experience of successful growth. They have a culture of sharing best practice and will be supporting our plans to deliver the solutions, services and great experience that will help customers grow and make their life easier. So it’s great for our customers and for our suppliers who are also a critical part of our success.

“Customers won’t notice any immediate change, as it’s very much business as usual and we will continue to trade as normal for customers. Over time we will be working closely with STARK, sharing and building on our great plans for our customers. We have a lot of opportunities now to share best practice with STARK and learn from their business and operations elsewhere in Europe. They have a tremendous track record of growth and delivering a great experience to their customers. We’ll be spending time seeing in what ways we can learn from this experience to support our local customers.”

STARK Group CEO Søren P. Olesen said: “We are very pleased to have completed this acquisition in great time and look forward to welcoming the International Timber colleagues and branches to STARK. We have a strategy that successfully focuses on professional tradespeople and the renovation and maintenance market together with specialist distribution for a range of customer segments.

“Entering the UK market is a great opportunity for our combined business to share best practice across the Nordics, Germany, Austria and the UK making life even easier for tradespeople. We’re delighted to now be a major employer in the UK, with 9,000 colleagues, where we will continue to operate as a good corporate citizen, placing a strong emphasis on sustainability, valuing and caring about our new UK employees and supporting UK growth and building decarbonisation.”

More