Vladimir Bartaković, General Manager of Sika Croatia: Together with MBCC Group Towards a Sustainable Future

By signing the agreement at the end of 2021, Sika began acquiring MBCC Group, formerly known as BASF Construction Chemicals. At the beginning of May, the long-awaited acquisition was completed, merging two high-quality portfolios designed to meet all customer needs in an increasingly challenging market.

A lot of work has gone into integrating MBCC Group; has the acquisition process finally come to an end?

– Yes, the acquisition has been completed. The process was very complex because Sika is already a global leader in this segment, which makes such transactions multiple challenging. But we at Sika know how to do it and will continue to do so. Moreover, this is probably one of the largest acquisitions in the history of this segment of specialty construction products, which further prolonged the entire process. All in all, two high-quality product portfolios have been merged, focusing on waterproofing, ceramic laying programs, various mortars, floor coverings, and everything else for which we are already known and represented in distribution, i.e., specialized stores, as well as in various infrastructure and residential construction projects.

Can you explain what your specialized solutions and areas of application are?

– Sika is today a global company, but its headquarters are still in Switzerland, where it all started 113 years ago with the waterproofing of the famous Gotthard tunnel. Today we offer various products such as mortars, membranes, additives, or coatings, but the original and then very innovative product Sika-1 is still on the market. Nevertheless, I must emphasize that today seventy percent of Sika’s sales come from products that positively impact sustainability, saving more than six billion liters of water each year just thanks to Sika’s additives for concrete production.

Furthermore, our sealants, primarily Sikaflex, seal more than a million windows every year. Certainly, there are special solutions for static reinforcements of buildings, which are currently in high demand in our domestic market. Generally, we are talking about solutions, as we like to say, from foundation to flat roof – from interior design to facade. Sika also has solutions for other industrial sectors, such as shipbuilding or the automotive industry, so today we can say that more than fifty percent of all cars produced in the world use our products, which also includes electric vehicles.

We live in challenging times – the pandemic caused by the coronavirus, inflation, and the transition to the euro have brought changes to the market. How are you coping with all this? We believe that business is still growing as Sika is undergoing a new acquisition?

– Sika is continuously growing globally, and the construction industry continues to achieve successful results. There is no shortage of projects in Croatia either, so at the local level, sales are steadily increasing. In just the past year, Sika Croatia has been part of exceptional projects, such as the construction of the Pelješac Bridge or the Učka Tunnel. Despite inflation and the transition to the euro, we are working at full speed. In the past five years, the corporation has closed about twenty larger acquisitions, and now there is the acquisition of MBCC Group.

The acquisition of MBCC Group is the largest acquisition to date, but what does it mean for Sika?

– In recent years, total revenue has significantly increased. The value of the Sika brand has increased 23 times in the last ten years, largely due to Sika’s strategy, which includes acquisitions as one of the key drivers of long-term success and profitable growth. With annual sales of 2.9 billion Swiss francs, MBCC Group is also globally one of the leading suppliers of construction chemicals.

Since it includes well-known brands such as the PCI program, Ucrete, and other well-known brands, this acquisition will complement and expand Sika’s product and solution offerings in four out of five core technologies and seven out of eight target markets. As Sika, as a global corporation, has demonstrated its responsibility towards the environment and climate change, as part of its sustainability strategy, in partnership with MBCC Group, it will continue to create even greener and more sustainable solutions to achieve zero emissions by 2050.

Can your customers and partners expect any changes?

– From the changes, they can expect an expansion of our program, of which they have already been informed. Of course, our customers, partners, and end-users will benefit from even better and higher quality service and availability, as well as improved and more sustainable products with added value and longer lifespan. In the end, I believe that together we can only expect positive changes and even stronger growth at both the global and local levels.