The history of BME goes back 50 years when BME’s previous owner CRH, an Irish company, laid the foundations for our Group by expanding onto mainland Europe, establishing a presence in the Netherlands with the acquisition of Van Neerbos, a builders merchant, in 1973.
The acquisition of Raboni builders merchants, established a position in supplying the residential repair, maintenance and improvement market in the Île-de-France region.
Expansion to Switzerland (Richner, Baubedarf, Getaz and RegusciReco), Austria (Quester), Germany (Bauking, Mobau and Paulsen) and Belgium (Creyns) and the acquisition of Cementbouw, a large and leading Dutch building materials group.
Further expansion into Belgium (establishment of SHAP business (Sax, Schrauwen, Lambrechts)) and further GBM buy-and-built (Halschoor, Heumatop, Costermans, Van den Broeck), France (Samse) and Germany (AGP, Krüger & Scharnberg and Bergmann & Franz). In 2018, our DIY activities in the Netherlands and Belgium (Gamma and Karwei) were sold to the franchise organization (Intergamma).
31 October 2019 – Building Material Europe (BME) started when Blackstone acquired the activities of CRH Distribution Europe.
31 July 2020 – Acquisition of the Detering Group, a distributor of Sanitary, Heating & Plumbing products in Germany.
12 April 2021 – Acquisition of the Mahler Group, a distributor of general building products and tiles in Bavaria, Germany.
15 April 2021 – Acquisition of Grupo BMV, a distributor of insulation and drylining materials in Spain.
30 July 2021 – Acquisition of Saint-Gobain Building Distribution Netherlands (SGBD NL), a distributor of building materials, tiles, sanitaryware and drylining materials, operating under the brands ‘Raab Karcher’, ‘De Jager Tolhoek’, Tegel Groep Nederland’, ‘Galvano’ and ‘Van Keulen’.
1 September 2021 – Acquisition of Silix,a distributor of infrastructure products in the East of France.
1 September 2021 – Acquisition of the remaining 50% of the share capital in Maxmat, a cash & carry distributor focusing on the residential renovation segment in Portugal.
2 September – Acquisition of De Jong & Roos, a leading ironmongery distributor in the Netherlands with a solid market position.
30 September 2021 – Acquisition of Baucentrum Cronrath’s general building products distribution activities in Germany.
1 October 2021 – Acquisitions of Planasdis and Yesyforma, both drylining specialist distributors in Spain.
2 November 2021 – Acquisition of Bridts, distributor of general building products trading under the name ‘Gedimat Antwerp’, in Belgium.
9 November 2021 – Acquisition of Heinrichs Fliesenmarkt, a distributor of tiles in Northern Germany.
1 April 2022 – Acquisition of Mager, one of the leading independent roofing specialists in the Paris area, in France.
4 April 2022 – Acquisition of Nelemans, a distributor of general building products in the South and West of the Netherlands and owner of the TegelMegaStore formula (tiles).
1 June 2022 – Acquisition of Villar MC, a specialist distributor of drylining products operating in the North of Spain.
15 June 2022 – Acquisition of Rollwitzer, a distributor of sanitary, heating and plumbing products as well as a distributor of building materials in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in Germany.
10 July 2022 – Acquisition of Induscabel, a distributor of sanitary, heating and plumbing products located in the Walloon region of Belgium.
1 August 2022 – Acquisition of Home Carrelage, a distributor of sanitary, tiles and natural stone in Paris, France.
1 September 2022 – Acquisition of GBI Jacob Bakker, an ironmongery specialist in the East of the Netherlands.
28 October 2022 – Acquisition of the distribution activities for infrastructure of BVP-Socca in France.
11 November 2022 – Acquisition of Van Engeland, an ironmongery specialist in the Netherlands.
16 November 2022 – Acquisition of Bouwpunt Van der Gucht, a distributor of general building products in Belgium.
13 december 2022 – Acquisition of Bäthge, a distributor of general building product located in Berlin-Spandau, in Germany.
11 January 2023 – Acquisition of Gebhardt, a distributor of general building products in Northern Bavaria, in Germany.
1 March 2023 – Acquisition of Decoplack, a distributor of insulation and drylining products in the Levant area, in Spain.
15 March 2023 – Acquisition of Huijskes-Boevink, an ironmongery specialist in the Eastern part of the Netherlands.
19 October 2023 – Acquisition of HeiMö, a distributor of Sanitary, Heating and Plumbing products as well as tiles in central-eastern Germany.
2 January 2024 – Acquisition of Dycten, one of the leading drylining specialist merchants in the Canary Islands.
3 January 2024 – Acquisition of Sanidel, a specialized merchant in sanitary, heating and plumbing products in the Walloon region of Belgium.
13 March 2024 – Acquisition of Mattheeussen, a distributor of building materials in the North of Antwerp in Belgium.
1 July 2024 – Acquisition of Hémistyle, a specialized merchant in tiles in the southwestern part of Paris.