The Nowy Styl Group, a European leader in furnishings for offices and public spaces is taking over a German family company Kusch+Co, the manufacturer and distributor of high-quality furniture solutions for offices, airports, sea terminals, hospitals and care centres. For Kusch+Co, this means an expansion of the company’s range of operation, and for the Nowy Styl Group a growth of its share in the European office market and a strong entry into the promising health and transport segments. The integration of the two companies is expected to bring a number of synergies.
The completed transaction is another West-European acquisition by the Nowy Styl Group, after it took over a Swiss company Sitag in 2015, a company operating in Germany and the Netherlands Rohde & Grahl in 2013, and a German brand Grammer Office in 2011.
“This is the next step in a consistent implementation of the Group’s strategy. We are highly advanced in integrating the companies we acquired in previous years, so we decided that this is a good time for another move”says Adam Krzanowski, the President of the Nowy Styl Group.
New segments of the furniture market
Kusch+Co is a global premium brand, very well recognized in design and architectural circles. It has a strong portfolio of products for office properties and public facilities, complementary to the offering of the Nowy Styl Group, as well as competence and international position as a supplier of furnishings for airports and terminals. Seats and benches from Kusch+Co can be found in the waiting rooms of more than 240 passenger terminals around the world, including Frankfurt Airport, Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle Airport in Paris, Stockholm Arlanda Airport, airports in Bali (Indonesia) and the capital of Costa Rica. Specialised products offered by the company meet the most stringent safety, functionality, design, comfort and performance standards.
“Together with Kusch+Co, we also want to develop the highly specialised health segment– I am sure that with the competence and many years of experience of our new partner combined with our production capacity, we can offer solutions in this area that are even better for customers” adds Adam Krzanowski.
“We are entering a new, very attractive business sector, thereby increasing the diversification of our operations. The European market of medical care is big, and the demographic trends determine its further growth” notes Rafał Chwast, Vice President and Finance Director for the Group.
Contemporary places of treatment include not only hospitals, but also nursing homes, homes for seniors and other types of medical and care facilities. Their furnishings must meet high functional, sanitary and visual standards – the climate of the interior must build up a sense of freedom, safety and comfort for those staying there.
Entering new segments of the furniture industry is an opportunity for significant synergies.
“We keep looking for ways to develop our business by making a better and broader use of our production and distribution capacities. Our previous moves towards this goal include the launch of Forum Seating, a brand that now has a strong international position in the stadium and auditorium business, and the establishment of Stylis, a joint-venture and brand which is very successful in fitting out hotels in the Middle East” saysRoman Przybylski, Member of the Board and Sales Director for the Nowy Styl Group.
“Kusch+Co is one of the leading global suppliers of furnishings for airports and carries out projects with the biggest architectural studios in the world. Deep integration will allow us to further strengthen the role of Kusch+Co in that sector by providing access to the Group’s broad product portfolio, increasing the scale of operation and optimising production costs” emphasizes Rafał Chwast.
The 16 companies making up the Nowy Styl Group, 29 showrooms in Europe and the Middle East and 3,500 dealers around the world are now becoming part of Kusch+Co’s distribution network. As a result of the transaction, the Group, on the other hand, expands with a modern production facility in Hallenberg, a skilled crew of 250 employees and long-standing partners and dealers selling a variety of Kusch+Co products around the world.
Organisational culture open to development
Preparation of the transaction, business negotiations and due diligence went extremely fast. They were made easier as the managers of both enterprises share a similar approach to business and a coherent vision of development.
“The people that I meet at the Nowy Styl Group, their passion and enterprise are extremely inspiring. I feel that we understand one another very well, especially on the basis of values and our vision of the business. I am consistently impressed by the production plants, the centre for innovation and the offices of the Nowy Styl Group in Poland and I can see how our merger offers manifold opportunities for development” says Ricarda Kusch, the CEO for Kusch+Co.
Kusch+Co’s motto “Shaping the way we sit” will take on a new dimension as Kusch+Co joins the Nowy Styl Group.
