Monier Group

Foundation

The company was founded in the UK as the "Redhill Tile Company", in 1919, with production of its first concrete roof tiles started November of this year. In 1946, the company changed its name and became "Redland Tiles". After an expansion period between 1949 and 1951 in which Redland invested in South Africa, Australia and Malaysia, the company bought the majority of Braas in Germany. Braas’ founder, de:Rudolf Braas, had already had closed contacts with his British colleagues for some time. Still in the same year, the company's parent plant was built in Heusenstamm near Frankfurt/Main, Germany.

"Frankfurter Pfanne"

From its market entry in 1954 until now, the "Frankfurter Pfanne" (English: Double Roman) has been the most laid concrete tile model in Germany. The main ingredients of a concrete roof tile are sand, concrete, water and colour pigments on an iron oxide basis. From the beginning, Braas gave a 30-year-guarantee on the materials of the "Frankfurter Pfanne" and was thus the first manufacturer in Germany to give long-term guarantees on building materials. In 1958, four years after market entry, the word and figurative mark "Frankfurter Pfanne" was registered with the patent office.

Today there are six models of the "Frankfurter Pfanne" in 13 different colours and two surfaces. Today Braas Monier is selling the "Frankfurter Pfanne" all over the world.

Growth and acquisitions

In the early 1950s Braas Monier expanded into non-European markets for the first time by going into South Africa, Australia and Malaysia. Further expansion to Southeast Asia and Austria followed in the late 1960s and to other European countries at the beginning of the 1970s. The market entries into Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and the USA between 1973 and 1979 marked one of the strongest expansion periods of the company. From 1993 the Group entered further markets like Scandinavia, the Baltic States, Poland and Russia. In 2001, the worldwide production network could be expanded to over 200 plants.

Two of the major acquisitions were Schiedel (1991) and Klöber. Since 2011 Braas Monier holds 100% of the Austrian company Bramac. In January 2015, the Group announced the acquisition of roof tile manufacturers Tejas Cobert (Spain) and CT Cobert Telhas (Portugal). In 2015 and 2016 Braas Monier took over the leading manufacturer of clay roof tiles in Malaysia, Golden Clay Industries (GCI), the Italian clay roof tile manufacturer Ceprano Coperture S.r.l. and the Danish manufacturer of roof accessories J.A. Plastindustri S/A.

Redland Braas Building Group

In 1996, Redland and Braas united their roof tile manufacturing activities and became Redland Braas Building Group.

Lafarge (Braas) Roofing

One year later, in 1997, Lafarge, a leading worldwide manufacturer of construction materials, took over Redland and established a new business division, Lafarge Roofing.

Monier/Private Equity

On 28 February 2007, Lafarge sold the majority of Lafarge Roofing for 2.4 billion euros to private equity investor PAI partners. PAI partners now held 65% of the company, Lafarge 35%. On 1 January 2008 the Group changed its name from Lafarge Roofing to Monier.

Revenues by region

In 2016 Braas Monier generated revenues of €1,235.8 million. Those were divided up between the regions as follows:

Brands

The following international product brands are part of Braas Monier Building Group:

Braas

Braas is the Group's brand for Germany, Poland, Russia, Switzerland and Turkey. The bestselling product of the company, the "Frankfurter Pfanne", is also part of the Braas brand.