On 6 June in Shanghai, Laminam’s CEO Alberto Selmi and Chinese entrepreneurs James Huang and Ge Fei, owners of the company Fhr Resources, signed a joint venture agreement to officially set up Laminam China.
The agreement brings together two leading companies: Laminam, a producer of large-size ceramic panels and slabs for architecture, interiors and furnishings, and Fhr Resources, a company that has been operating in China for more than twenty years in the construction sector and in the marble import and distribution business.
For the ceramic tile company based in Fiorano Modenese (additional facilities are located in Borgotaro and Parma in Italy and in Kaluga in Russia), the operation confirms the growth trend of recent years and provides a further boost to the brand’s internationalisation process.
Laminam China will support Laminam in its development and will help it achieve its goal of expanding its range of offerings in China. It has also recently won two orders in Beijing: the facades of all buildings in the new Olympic village and the claddings of the new Z15 and Z12 towers, currently the tallest buildings in the Chinese capital.
“We intentionally chose 6 June as the official signing date of the joint venture agreement as it is the Chinese date of sowing, corresponding to the ninth solar term of the Chinese lunar calendar,” explained Ge Fei, Director of Laminam China. “This bodes well for our future growth in line with the results achieved by our colleagues worldwide.”
The aim of the new joint venture, explained Alberto Selmi, is to “strengthen the brand and consolidate its leadership position in a rapidly expanding market where ceramic slabs have enormous potential”. Laminam closed 2017 with a turnover of 85 million euros, 70% of which was generated through exports, and is expected further to see 30% growth by the end of 2018.
The photos show the handshake between James Huang and Alberto Selmi and the two important projects in Beijing where Laminam panels have been used.