New purchasing cooperative in Germany

Toom Baumarkt, the DIY division of Rewe, a German trading group, and Hellweg, a German DIY chain, have founded a new cooperative purchasing organisation under the name of DIY Union. The two companies intend to pool a sales volume of around three billion euros in the German market. As of 31 December 2011 Toom will be leaving the Toomaxx buying cooperative, of which it was a co-founder. The existing partners Baumax (Austria), Coop (Switzerland) and Rautakesko (Finland) intend to continue to work together within the organisation. The cooperation between the Rewe Group and its existing partners in Eurogroup Far East Ltd, which deals with the procurement market in Asia, will not be affected by the changes.