Flooring Manufacturer Applies Finishing Touches to North Carolina Plant

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Unilin Flooring, NC, LLC (Thomasville, North Carolina), a division of Unilin Holding NV (Wielsbeke, Belgium), is nearing completion of its new vertically integrated manufacturing plant on a 61-acre site in Thomasville, North Carolina.

Construction on the $80 million, 1.1 million square-foot plant began in June of 2004 and is expected to be fully operational in September of 2005. Spartanburg, South Carolina-based Lockwood Greene and John S. Clark of Mount Airy, North Carolina, handled engineering and construction, respectively. The plant will be the company's first U.S. operation and is expected to employ 330 people of whom approximately 100 people have already been hired and trained.

The plant will consist of six buildings: a press building, a cutting and milling building, impregnation building, a packaging and distribution center with fourteen docks, administrative offices, and a training center. The press building was completed first. The construction of the building began in late 2004 and the equipment was installed during the first quarter of 2005 and became operational in May. The foundation for the most significant building, the cutting and milling building, was poured in February, with steel erection following in the subsequent weeks. Equipment installation in the building began in May and is now undergoing testing. The impregnation building, distribution center, offices, and training center also began construction in February and are currently receiving finishing touches.

Unilin Flooring, NC, LLC is a division of the Unilin Holdings NV, which was founded in Europe in 1960. Unilin Flooring is the world's largest manufacturer of Uniclic glueless products. Unilin's laminate floors, Quick-Step, is currently one of the best selling laminate flooring brands in the world. Unilin has 12 production facilities spread out through Belgium, France, the Netherlands and the U.S. Unilin already operates a plant off Denton Road in Thomasville, North Carolina, which they purchased from Columbia Forest Products in 2001.

In March of 2005, Unilin requested the services of Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS )(New York, New York) to advise them on the possible sale or entry of private equity investors into the business. According to the Wall Street Journal, Allianz Capital Partners, BC Partners, Carlyle Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Mohawk Industries were all prospective bidders. In July, Mohawk Industries announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Unilin Holding NV for approximately $2.6 billion. In 2002, Mohawk acquired Dallas, Texas-based, Dal-Tile International, Incorporated, making Mohawk the largest provider of ceramic in the U.S. With its latest acquisition, the combination of Mohawk, Unilin and Dal-Tile is expected to continue to strengthen their position in the flooring market and lead to a stronger company.

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