Shaw Industries CEO Vance Bell poses for a portrait Friday, Aug. 14, 2015, at their headquarters in Dalton, Ga.Shaw Industries Group Inc., the world’s biggest carpet maker, is taking a harder approach to floorcovering with the purchase of the leading producer of the increasingly popular wood-plastic composite flooring.
The Dalton, Ga.-based Shaw announced Tuesday it has reached a definitive agreement to purchase USFloors, also based in Dalton, for an undisclosed amount. Started in 2001 by Piet Dossche – the brother-in-law of Beaulieu of America co-founder Carl Bouckart – USFloors helped develop the waterproof, wood-like vinyl flooring, as well as cork, bamboo and hardwood products.
For Shaw Industries, which is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the purchase is the biggest since its 2007 acquisition of Anderson Hardwood Floors. The sale is expected to close in the fourth quarter, after customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
“We are excited to welcome Piet Dossche and the USFloors team to Shaw Industries,” Shaw Industries CEO Vance Bell said in a statement. “Our companies share similar values and focus on innovation, style and design and sustainability leadership. Combining USFloors, the fastest growing company in the fastest growing segment of the flooring business, with Shaw’s LVT position creates a significant opportunity for the combined companies.”
Piet Dossche, who founded USFloors and will continue to work for the business under Shaw’s ownership, said “Shaw’s superior service and operational excellence will allow the company to expand its leadership position in the wood-plastic composite segment even faster.”
Kemp Harr, publisher of Floor Focus magazine, said the purchase gives Shaw a leading share of the wood-plastic composite market, which offers rigid flooring that clicks together with a luxury vinyl tile surface on top to resemble wood flooring but at a lower cost and with a waterproof surface.
“When consumers walk into a retail store now and they see that they can get what looks like a real wood floor that is waterproof and very durable, it is very appealing to a lot of folks and that’s why this is really a very fast growing category in the floorcovering market,” Harr said.
Shaw launched its hard surfaces division in 1998, two years before the company was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway. But unlike its larger rival Mohawk Industries, the world’s biggest floorcovering manufacturer, Shaw has not grown its hard surfaces lines as much.
USFloors markets its products under the COREtec, Natural Cork, Natural Bamboo, Navarre and Castle Combe Floor and Wall brands. The company’s manufacturing and corporate facilities are based in Dalton, Ga.,, and its distribution facilities are in Dalton and Augusta, Ga., and Anaheim, Calif. In addition, USFloors has an extensive presence in Shanghai China and an International Sales and Marketing office in Belgium, Europe.
Shaw Industries Group employs more than 20,000 associates with offices, plants, warehouses and distribution and retail outlets throughout the U.S., as well as Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, India, Mexico, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.