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US-based modular construction company merges with Polish modular manufacturer to extend global reach.
The seemingly inexorable march towards globalisation continues on many levels, and we’re now witnessing it with modular construction as well with Volumetric Building Company.
Led by Australian expat, Vaughan Buckley, Volumetric Building Company (VBC) has merged with Polish modular construction company, Polcom Group, into its operations as part of a strategy to expand its global reach and grow to US$1 billion in annual revenue over the next three years.
Polcom Group, which builds modular building systems for the hospitality industry, will become part of VBC, which was formed in 2009 by Buckley and based in Philadelphia.
Polcom was formed in 1989 and manufactures steel, furniture and modular building systems. PIMCO, in a venture with Polish investment firm Griffin Real Estate, owns a majority stake in Polcom, and is Volumetric’s investment partner.
The merger with Polcom comes on the heels of VBC acquiring last August the assets that had been owned by modular construction company Katerra Inc. That deal included a lease on a 53,000 manufacturing facility outside of San Francisco, its equipment, intellectual property and patents.
Between the Katerra purchases and Polcom deal, Volumetric has completed US$65 million in transactions over the last six months. The company has also established a US$100 million development fund that will enable it to delve into building its own construction projects as part of a way to provide it another pipeline for its modular building systems.
Approximately six months ago, the company decided to seek out an investment partner to help its grow and take advantage of some of the opportunities that would emerge as a result of the pandemic. The Katerra acquisition and Polcom addition has set it on course to become even more dominant in the growing modular construction industry, which is gaining considerable traction across the Unites States.
“The goal is to have meaningful impact on the industry,” Buckley said. “Now we’re in this space where we can focus more on technology, investment funding and focus on R&D and improve the product and how our industry approaches it. We want to shift the mindset from project to product and get out of this project mode and into produce mode.”
The combined company will have more than 500 employees located in over 120,000 square metres of manufacturing space located in 2 continents, and Polcom will continue to operate all of its current facilities after the merger.
See: www.vbc.co
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