French group invests €33.3 million in wooden window factory located in Famalicão

  • ECO News
  • 12 January 2022

The french group invests €33.3 million and creates 84 jobs in a wooden windows factory. Its partner is Caixiave, a subsidiary of Tryba, which is making other investments in Minho.

The project is called Natwindo, and it is a new production unit of efficient wooden windows that promises to create 84 new jobs in Vila Nova de Famalicão, an investment that amounts to €33.3 million and in which the Portuguese Caixiave will have a “very minority stake”.

João Ferreira Gomes, commercial manager of the Minho producer that claims Iberian leadership in efficient PVC (polyvinyl chloride) windows and doors, tells ECO that this new factory will be controlled by French capital, but “it is not yet exactly defined the shareholding” of the partners that will make this export project possible, with no date scheduled for the start of works.

Natwindo will receive a non-refundable Portugal 2020 incentive of almost €4.6 million, according to data consulted by ECO, and has also already signed an investment tax contract with AICEP that provides a maximum tax credit of €3 million.

Founded in 1993, Caixiave, which represented this investing consortium in these contracts signed with the Portuguese state, in January 2019 gave part of its capital to the French group Atrya, owner of nine factories in Europe and the Tryba brand, which now holds a 49% stake in the Portuguese construction materials company. Run by Carlos Sá and his cousin Artur Leite, it employs over 400 people and has just closed the 2021 financial year with a turnover of around €43 million, up from almost €30 million that had been reported in 2020.

“They were looking for partner companies in Portugal and we were looking for a strategic partner. We Portuguese always have a problem gaining size, given the small [domestic] market we have; and these large groups have more financial availability than Portuguese companies,” contextualises João Ferreira Gomes, head of sales and marketing.

It was “already with the financial contribution” of the Gaulish group that Caixiave went ahead with its PVC frames factory extension, whose works are underway and should be completed by the end of this year, adding 40% to the current production capacity. And on a plot of land next to this factory complex, in the parish of Ribeirão, another unit is being built specialised in efficient aluminium windows, to supply the Iberian market. It is the initiative of Tryba SA, whose majority (51%) of the capital is in the hands of the group based in the commune of Gundershoffen, in the Great East region.

Announced in May 2020 with a total amount of €50 million, this latest investment also includes a ship to produce standardised PVC windows for large retailers such as Leroy Merlin, and another for double glazing to shorten response times to customers. It had the green light for non-refundable support of 9.57 million in PT2020 and tax benefits in the amount of €309 000 attributed by the City Council, including a 91% reduction in municipal licensing fees for urban operations, in IMT and IMI