Cleveland—In a move designed to strengthen its position in the commercial flooring category, Tarkett has acquired Johnsonite, one of the leading brands in specialty flooring and flooring accessories. Johnsonite, based in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, will continue to be directed by its current management team. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Noted Marc Assa, CEO of Tarkett AG, the acquisition of Johnsonite is the continuation of Tarkett’s global growth strategy and represents its third major acquisition in 2005 in the quest to provide flooring solutions for each segment of the worldwide market. “Johnsonite is one of the most respected companies in the flooring industry in America. We expect to build on this brand strength by marketing suitable Tarkett high performance commercial solutions under the Johnsonite name.”

With this acquisition, Tarkett gains additional insight into the commercial interiors market in North America and the force of a leading brand, noted Assa, while Johnsonite secures access to an extensive worldwide product portfolio of high performance specialty flooring solutions as well as Tarkett’s global sales, marketing and logistics networks.

Jeff Buttitta, Johnsonite’s president and CEO, added, “This transaction will raise the opportunity to bring greater value to our end users and market channel partners such as the design community, flooring service providers and Johnsonite’s strong distribution network.” “At Johnsonite, it has always been our mission to create value and measurable lifetime economic return for the end user,” he added. “Our relationship with Tarkett will allow us to create additional customer value through broadening our system capabilities for such key market segments as healthcare, education and corporate.”

Buttitta emphasized that Johnsonite will continue to focus on the specialty flooring and accessory categories within the commercial market and added that in the coming months Johnsonite will be exploring the global portfolio of Tarkett innovations for commercial solutions that fit the company’s position of enhancing high performance environments through productivity and life safety.

“From a Johnsonite perspective,” said the company’s director of marketing, Jeff Krejsa, “we continue to have a strong position in the commercial side of the flooring business, particularly in healthcare and education. Primarily though, where our strength has always been has been in specialty flooring and specialty accessories, meaning rubber, stair treads, transitions and wall base. We have had a limited portfolio of flooring, namely rubber. What Tarkett has, in commercial, particularly in Europe, is a huge portfolio of products, specific for commercial that, to date, has had some limited exposure in the U.S.

“So,” he explained, “what the acquisition really means is, it gives Johnsonite the opportunity to understand that global portfolio of products and solutions that Tarkett offers and bring the ones to the U.S. that make the most sense, kind of living underneath the Johnsonite positioning in the marketplace, such as safety of the space, dur-ability to long-term performance and return of the space. That is really the beauty of this acquisition. What it gives John-sonite as a brand is, access to a whole portfolio of speciality flooring. And what it gives Tarkett, the owner is, a brand within the commercial marketplace that has a very defined role, a great reputation and a huge awareness within the A&D and end user communities.”

Regarding whether the two companies will share plants, Krejsa responded, “The plants in Europe may be making products for Johnsonite that we will market in the U.S. and, in turn, the product solutions that we offer in the U.S. today, all those specialty accessories, may have opportunity in other global markets for Tarkett. So, if that is the case, we more than likely would be manufacturing those types of products here in the U.S. for those other markets.”

When asked if the acquisition means that Johnsonite will now offer linoleum and vinyl flooring while Tarkett will offer rubber flooring, Krejsa commented, “I believe it’s probably too early to say that definitively. We are still going through the search of all the products and assortments, but I think it’s certainly safe to assume that Johnsonite will be marketing a number of Tarkett products under the Johnsonite brand, and Tarkett will, more than likely, be marketing in other markets a number of Johnsonite products.”

“For us,” he concluded, “this acquisition just broadens our op-portunities, particularly in segments like healthcare and edu-cation. We have positioned the brand in our discussions with the A&D community and, particularly with venues, to always be about the return a space can deliver back to them. When we’re talking about our portfolio, as broad as it is in accessories, there are times when it comes to flooring that we don’t have all the solutions that they need for the project. What I believe the acquisition is going to offer us is, the opportunity to have that full portfolio, to really come to the market as a complete system.”

Tarkett’s commercial tile business will continue to be distributed by the current Azrock and Expressions network in North America. The organization led by Gilles de Beaumont will continue to operate from its base in Houston.

By Louis Iannaco
For more on Johnsonite, call 800/899-8916.
For more on Tarkett, call 713/869-5811.