Tarkett AG
In 1885, Anders Martensson opened a woodworking facility for furniture in Malmö, Sweden. In 1886, it became a company known as Malmö Woodworking Factory[5] (AB Malmö Snickerifabrik). In 1889, investor R.F. Berg took control and introduced wood flooring production, especially parquetry, opening a second facility in Limhamn. In 1907, Berg died and was replaced by Ernst Wehtje. After various setbacks, Wehtje sold off most minor operations of the company and, by the 1920s, refocused it almost exclusively on the wood flooring industry, renaming it as Limhamns Snickerifabrik. In 1925, the company was renamed again as Limhamns Golvindustri AB, under the leadership of Hugo Wehtje. Production was moved from Limhamn to Liljeholmen. In 1938, the company introduced the Lindemann board (a ready-to-use parquet board), which was larger and therefore cheaper to install than parquet's previous small boards. During the following years, the company acquired rivals on the Swedish market, entered into the laminated floorboards business and, in 1946, introduced a plastic replacement for wood covering, known as Tarkett, which became a sales success. Under the next leader, Urban Wehtje, the company started to develop an international network and diversified its production of wood and plastic coverings for building interiors. By the 1960s, the Wehtjes sold a significant percentage of the company's stake and, in 1967, it was listed on the Swedish stock exchange as Tarkett.[5]
In 1970, Tarkett was acquired by Svenska Tändsticks AB[5] (in turn acquired by Stora in the 1980s)[6] and in 1978 it was merged with carpeting manufacturer Aneplas.[5] The company continued its expansion in Europe and North America. In the late 1980s, then-CEO Lars Wisén decided to merge it with German rival Pegulan, and the headquarters were moved from Sweden to Frankenthal, Germany. The new company resulting from the merger was named Tarkett-Pegulan (later Tarkett AG) and Wisén became the CEO of the combined operations.[5][6] In 1994, Stora sold the company to the investment firms CWB Capital Partners and Goldman Sachs Investment Bank.[7]
