Stronger together

Baumax and Hellweg, two family-owned companies, are going to work together under the name of DIY-Trade for procurement purposes in the future. The joint buying company will cover a sales volume of some € 2.5 bn. A press release from the two companies explains that the aim of the buying cooperation is to strengthen their buying position in the German and European DIY and building market and go ahead with shaping their product assortment. To this end they are working to bundle imports and develop joint own labels. Each of the partners holds a 50 per cent share of the DIY-Trade Einkaufsgesellschaft mbH. The management consists of Frank Jahn from Hellweg and Thomas Marx from Baumax. Hellweg’s cooperation with Euro-DIY, the EDE Group’s retail company, is to be continued in DIY-Partner GmbH. “We are really looking forward to the cooperation with Hellweg and are convinced that we will achieve high synergy effects in the interest of our customers,” says Michael Hürter, CEO Baumax. And Reinhold Semer, owner of the Hellweg Group, adds his comment: “In addition to the general advantages of a buying cooperative, Hellweg and Baumax are united by a strong aspiration towards quality and service.”