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drymix.info Newsletter 222/2019; ISSN Number 1613-0111; 28. May 2019

1. drymix.info Shop: Rebate of 30 Euro per Person on Each Admission
2. Kick-Off-Meeting to Form a South African Drymix Mortar Manufacturers Association, Johannesburg, 10. June 2019
3. scalingUp3D, Wopfing and Vienna, Austria, 27. and 28. June 2018, NEW: Heurigenabend on 27.6.19 (only with nice weather!)
4. SEADMA's Second Vietnam Drymix Mortar Meeting, 23. July 2019 at Daewoo Hotel Hanoi (NEW DATE!)
5. MEDMA Oman Drymix Mortar Showcase: 7. October 2019, Muscat
6. IMCD Joins drymix.info a International Distribution Partner
7. Sto Finalizes the Integration of Ströher
8. Knauf Completes the Takeover of US Gypsum
9. Stark-Group Takes over Saint Gobain Weber Building Distribution Germany

1. drymix.info Shop: Rebate of 30 Euro per Person on Each Admission

“Changes pricing...” sounds like an increase to you? Not quite. Due to the fact that we want to stay small and efficient, and promote online booking, we have decided to actually REDUCE our prices for those who are ready to pay by credit card (please note that bookings via Visa or Mastercard actually cost us about 5% of the transaction value). So: our prices for admissions remain untouched, but if you pay in our shop you will enjoy a 30 Euro (10% to 20%) discount on all (net) admissions. Try our shop, ask us if you have any questions.

Here is another nice side aspect: this change already applies for late bookers of scalingUp3D in Vienna, 27. and 28. June 2019!

2. Kick-Off-Meeting to Form a South African Drymix Mortar Manufacturers Association, Johannesburg, 10. June 2019

Response from the industry was great during the last two weeks: a large group of quality drymix mortar manufacturers will meet at Sandton Sun Hotel on 10. June 2019, 17:00 to discuss the formation of a future (working title) Drymix Mortar Manufacturer's Association of South Africa. This meeting differs entirely from other drymix.info events, we will have only some short statements about the global market situation, the market in southern Africa in particular, its technical status and applications to come (contributions are welcome!). The meeting itself will be focussed on determining the common ground, from which the future, neutral association will venture to work on further establishing state of the art drymix mortar technology in Governments and Municipalities, at engineers and architects and as beneficial guideline for builders and developers in southern Africa. drymix.info is already circulating proposals on how to tackle this task amongst the participants (resolution for quality, vision, goals and targets). It is intended to create and elect a Founding Committee during the Kick-Off Meeting, which will see the formal process through.

Drymix mortar experts, industry peers and major players of our industry have already vouched their support.  Wacker Chemie is supporting this meeting and formation process, additional sponsoring is welcome to cover the cost of the meeting.

Pre-registration by e-mail to info@drymix.info is absolutely mandatory. The meeting is free of charge for drymix mortar producers, up to two delegates will be admitted from each company (additional delegates pay 150 Euro or ZAR 2.400). Industry Observers are welcome, too, they pay 390 Euro (ZAR 6.300), reduced for members of drymix.info to 290 Euro (ZAR 4.700).

3. scalingUp3D, Wopfing and Vienna, Austria, 27. and 28. June 2018, NEW: Heurigenabend on 27.6.19 (only with nice weather!)

scalingUp3D - The Interdisciplinary Conference on Printable Mortars, takes place on  27. and 28. June 2019 in Austria, here is a short overview of our locations:

On Thursday, 27. June 19, we meet 9:30 sharp in Vienna at Schwedenplatz in order to take our bus to Wopfing (Waldegg, participation limited to 60 delegates! Confirmed participants only) to the research center of Schmid Holding (Baumit, Wopfinger), we will have three practical sessions there, live 3D printing of mortars included!

NEW: if we have nice weather (if it is not raining) on Thursday evening, all delegates can join us for a casual basic dinner, fresh air and wine at Weinbau Zawodsky above Grinzing. Zawodsky offers cosy seating inside their vineyards with a spectacular view back on/to Vienna, and maybe they even fire up the grill for us. Bring a jacket and your wallet – unfortunately we could not find a sponsor (yet) for this nice escapade (it is not very expensive up there, don't worry).

Our plenary session with 13 lectures takes place on Friday, 28. June 2019, check-in starts at 9:00. We meet right in the heart of Vienna at stylisch „Labstelle Wien“ (Lugeck 6, U-Bahn Stephansdom). Our program with times for each lecture has recently been posted on our website, it will also be sent in its final version to all registered delegates.

Admissions (all prices include 20% Austrian VAT): Both days: 950 €, reduced to 750 € for members of drymix.info, only 550 € drymix mortar manufacturers (attention: limitation on day 1 is 60!). Day Two only (plenary sessions): 550 €, reduced to 420 € for members of drymix.info, only 280 € for drymix mortar manufacturers, 180 € for students and faculty (proof of immatriculation required). Registration with credit card payment (Visa or Mastercard only, 30 Euro rebate on each admission!) is available on www.drymix.info.

4. SEADMA's Second Vietnam Drymix Mortar Meeting, 23. July 2019 at Daewoo Hotel Hanoi (NEW DATE!)

The South East South East Asia Drymix Mortar Association SEADMA invites to its Second Vietnam Drymix Mortar Meeting. The meeting takes place at Daewoo Hotel in downtown Hanoi on 23. July 2019, from 10:00 to 14:00 (lunch included). Similar to our first meeting in Ho Chi Minh City last June we will have speeches as well as discussion sessions, the meeting will be moderated by Ferdinand Leopolder. Interested parties should grab the opportunity to propose technical lectures and/or product presentations to reach out the the drymix mortar producers in the northern part of Vietnam (Call for Papers open until 30 June 2019). The meeting language will be Vietnamese, some presentations will be held in English – we will improvise a translation. Various sponsoring options exist for suppliers and distributors alike.

Pre-registration by e-mail to info@drymix.info is absolutely mandatory. The meeting is free of charge for drymix mortar producers, up to two delegates will be admitted from each company (additional delegates pay 150 Euro or VND 4 mio). Industry Observers are welcome, too, they pay 390 Euro (VND 10 mio), reduced for members of drymix.info to 290 Euro (VND 7,5 mio). When paying online in our shop (Visa or Mastercard), you can get a 30 Euro discount!

5. MEDMA Oman Drymix Mortar Showcase: 7. October 2019, Muscat

The Sultanate of Oman, Founding Member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), has developed quite differently when compared with the Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar or Kuwait. HE Qaboos bin Said al Said is in office since 1970 and thus the longest ruling monarch in the Arabic world. The focus of the administration lay always on sustainable development of matching industries and an eco-friendly tourism, while at the same time bringing education and work to the people.

The MEDMA Oman Drymix Mortar Showcase gives you a chance to experience and get to know the Omani construction materials industry. For its members and partners, The Middle East Drymix Mortar Association MEDMA has arranged for the MEDMA Drymix Mortar Showcase in Muscat at and during Infra Oman Exhibition, on 7. October 2019. This half-day event is being hosted and promoted by Al Nimr Group, the organizers of Infra Oman. Members and partners of MEDMA (and drymix.info!) are presenting state of the art mortar production and application technology to the industry experts and Government official of Oman. MEDMA members and partners are encouraged to propose lectures and sponsoring to Leo soon (our Call for Papers ends on 30. June 2019), so our program can also be included in the official Infra Oman program and website. Various sponsoring options exist, please enquire with us.

Thanks to the generous support of Al Nimr Group, this event is free of charge for all registered delegates. Needless to say, that advance registration is absolutely mandatory by e-mail to info@drymix.info.

6. IMCD Joins drymix.info a International Distribution Partner

IMCD N.V., Rotterdam, The Netherlands, has decided to join drymix.info as an international distribution partner. In the past several subsidiaries of IMCD (also distributors that have in the meantime become part of IMCD) were distribution partner with us. Now, IMCD has decided to bundle all those memberships in one international partnership. IMCD is an internationally active distributor of speciality chemicals with a strong portfolio for construction chemicals and specifically raw materials for drymix mortars. IMCD employs close to 2.800 people worldwide and has offices and operations in 46 Nations around the globe.

We warmly welcome the teams of IMCD worldwide to our community.

7. Sto Finalizes the Integration of Ströher

Sto AG of Stühlingen, Germany, has recently completed the integration of Ströher GmbH, Dillenburg, Germany. The owners of Ströher have now sold the remaining shares (49,9 %) to Sto. Sto had already purchased a majority interest (50,1 % of the shares) in late 2015 (see drymix.info Newsletter 172/2015). Ströher CEO Gerhard Albert will leave the company in summer 2019, while Patrick Schneider remains in the unit as General Manager. Ströher (brand names Ströher, Gepadi and Ströher Living) will continue to independently produce and market ceramic materials for outdoor and specialty indoor flooring use as well as tiling materials for facades.

8. Knauf Completes the Takeover of US Gypsum

Gebr. Knauf KG (Knauf Gips), Iphofen Germany has recently announced the completion of its takeover of all shares of USG Corporation (US Gypsum), Chicago, Illinois, USA (we reported earlier). The transaction yields the world's largest gypsum and related products manufacturer. Alexander Knauf, General Partner with unlimited liability of Knauf Gips KG said „ … this transaction is the largest in Knauf's history … in USG we see strong brands and leading positions in North America and an excellent workforce. We welcome USG in the Knauf Family.” Chris Griffin will become the future CEO of USG, he will be responsible for a smooth integration of both organizations. Concerning the cost of this transaction we are citing our earlier drymix.info Newsletter 209/2018, “… the final price is now 5.984 mio Euro (USD 7.000 mio, equivalent to US$ 42 per share)”. USG shares are no longer listed at the stock exchanges in New York (NYSE) and Chicago (CHX).

9. Stark-Group Takes over Saint Gobain Weber Building Distribution Germany

Stark Group, Frederiksberg, Denmark has reached an agreement to take over Saint-Gobain Building Distribution Deutschland GmbH, Offenbach am Main, Germany. Stark Group already operates building materials distribution businesses in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark, Stark is currently owned and backed by private equity company Lone Star, Dallas, Texas, USA (Lone Star has also invested into Xella International GmbH, Duisburg, Germany). Stark has over 4.600 employees, working in 186 locations in Scandinavia. An exact transaction value was not disclosed, the takeover is still subject to approval by the relevant authorities, which is expected in fall 2019.


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Editor-in-Chief: Ferdinand Leopolder.

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