US Group Illinois Tool Works (ITW, Glenview, Illinois; www.itw.com) has bought all remaining shares in the Polyrey International Group (Velizy Cedex / France; www.polyrey.com). No details were given of the conditions of the agreement. Polyrey, which manufactures decorative boards, including laminated sheets, self-supporting laminates and high-tech products, will operate under ITW subsidiary Wilsonart (Temple, Texas / USA; www.wilsonart.com), which specialises in decorative surfaces and owns, for example, Resopal (Groß Umstadt / Germany; www.resopal.de). Polyrey will continue to operate under its existing brand name.

The US company intends to strengthen its position in Europe through the acquisition. Polyrey has sites across Europe including France, Belgium, U.K. and Spain, and employs around 900 people. In the 2006 financial year, the company is expected to achieve sales of USD 185m.

ITW is involved in the production of high-tech products, industrial systems and consumer goods. The group has 700 facilities in 48 countries with a total of around 50,000 employees. It posted sales in 2005 of USD 12.8 bn.