The process of concentration in the European plastic pipes sector continues. The latest to merge are Georg Fischer (HQ: CH-8201 Schaffhausen) and Wavin (HQ: PO Box 173, NL-8000 AD Zwolle). The new company, to be known as Georg Fischer Wavin AG, will combine the two companies´ activities in pressure fittings for gas and water supply, and will start trading at the beginning of 1999. A letter of intent calls for Georg Fischer to merge its supply business into Wavin AG (CH-4553 Subin) and then take the majority stake in the new firm, which will employ some 220 people and have annual sales of around DEM 100m.

Georg Fischer´s supply business is part of the group´s pipe systems segment, which had sales of DEM 830m and 2,500 employees in 1997. Wavin AG is a subsidiary of Dutch producer Wavin BV, which has pipe system sales of around DEM 1.5 bn annually. – “It´s an ideal match in production and marketing, and together we will bolster our market position,” Herbert Zengerling, divisional manager for supply within Georg Fischer´s pipe systems group, and Dick van der Plas, general manager of Wavin AG, said in a joint statement.