A Turkish building materials firm has acquired Mannok, it has been announced.

Çimsa has announced that they have signed an agreement to acquire 94.7 per cent of Mannok Holdings, formerly Quinn Industrial Holdings, for an overall enterprise value of €330million. 

Mannok, once owned by former Fermanagh billionaire Seán Quinn, is a key player in the construction industry in Ireland and is a large employer in the Border region.

Local management will still lead Mannok, and retain a 5.3 per cent interest.

Under the agreement, which is subject to customary approvals, the Mannok brand will be retained as a growth hub for Çimsa and Sabanci in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

This agreement marks Çimsa’s third major investment in the past three years, following recent investments in Spain and the United States, and underpins its ambition to become a scale player in the United Kingdom and Irish markets.

There are currently 800 employees at Mannok, spread across two divisions of the company: Building Products and Packaging.

Describing Çisma as a “superb fit” for the company, Mannok Chairman Adrian Barden said: “Çimsa and the broader Sabanci group are a superb fit for Mannok as new long-term, strategic owners with excellent sustainability credentials and know-how.

"The group is steeped in cement manufacture and building products and, as a diverse conglomerate, it also has interests in retail and food - important sectors for our packaging business.

“We are very pleased that Sabanci has endorsed the Mannok brand, and has agreed to back local management’s plans to accelerate our sustainability and growth ambitions."

Dara O’Reilly, Chief Executive Officer, Mannok welcomed the development as the “right move for Mannok”.

Mr. O'Reilly said:  “At this stage of our development, securing a long-term, strategic, well-capitalised owner of scale is the right move for Mannok, and we look forward to working with our new colleagues at Sabanci.

"I wish to also acknowledge and thank the investor group, led by Brigade Capital Management, LP amongst others, for their unstinting and collegiate support as majority owners of the business over the past decade, following the acquisition from share receivership in 2014.

“Investor group backing and the support and commitment of our customers and our 800 staff are the reason Mannok has grown and prospered, and why we are now optimally positioned for a new chapter of growth.”

Çimsa is a subsidiary of Turkish-listed Sabanci, a global conglomerate which employs more than 60,000 people in 14 countries across five continents.

Sabanci is engaged in a wide range of business activities including cement and building materials, energy and climate technologies, industrials, banking and financial services, retail and digital sectors.

In 2023, Sabanci delivered combined revenue of €31.5billion and a consolidated net income of €600million.

In 2022, the Sabanci group committed to a US$5billion investment in sustainability by 2027.

Umut Zenar, the Chief Executive Officer of Çimsa, hailed the agreement as “the beginning of a new era” for Mannok, and continued: "At Çimsa, our model is to back great local businesses and management, and we look forward to creating new employment opportunities in the region as we support Mannok’s continuing growth and sustainability ambitions.

“Given its Border location, Mannok has unique access to United Kingdom and European Union markets, and we see it as a key stepping stone in expanding our footprint in Western Europe.

"For Mannok staff, joining the Sabanci ecosystem will also present a world of opportunity for career development and progression and exposure to innovation in product development, sustainability, and digitalisation.”

The now Mannok business grew as an empire that first started off from humble beginnings near Teemore in 1973, with Seán Quinn extracting sand, shale, and gravel from near his home before expanding into cement.

It was not long before the empire expanded, and other companies grew, including Quinn Glass, now Encirc, and other manufacturing companies as well as the development of Quinn Insurance.

Later, Mr. Quinn diversified into property, buying bars and building the state-of-the-art Slieve Russell Hotel, once the jewel in his business empire.

The Quinn fortune was worth an estimated €4.7bllion and spanned multiple industries.

However, Mr. Quinn was declared bankrupt in late 2011 when the firm experienced massive losses on shares in Anglo Irish Bank when that bank collapsed and was nationalised.

In 2013, the Quinn Group was renamed Aventus, with Mr. Quinn briefly returning as an advisor when a local consortium, known as the Quinn Business Retention Company (QBRC), bought the business, which was renamed Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH) in 2014.

Mr. Quinn later left QIH in 2016 amid tension between him and the management team.

On the day of his return, employees took a sledgehammer to the Aventas Group sign displayed at headquarters along the Border, removing it to uncover the previous sign – the letter ‘Q’ and a sign was later set on fire.

Tensions flared in the Border region with incidents of damage and intimidation that lasted across several years.

In 2015, a pig's head was placed at the home of one of the Directors of QIH.

In 2016, there was a campaign of intimidation with property damage as well as abusive and defamatory signs about company Directors being erected close to the offices of the company.

A threatening note along with bullets and a funeral wreath was also sent to the company operating wind farms formerly owned by the Quinn Group.

The note warned workers to "stay away" from the Slieve Rushen wind farm.

The following years included the erection of further signs, many defamatory, with 2018 seeing an arson attack on a business owned by a QIH senior manager, and arson attacks on cars owned by company Directors.

In February, 2019, Directors Kevin Lunney and Dara O’Reilly were assaulted by Bernard McGovern, who was later jailed for three years for the assault.

Violence escalated once more when in September, 2019, Kevin Lunney was abducted from near his Kinawley home and subject to an attack which left him with physical and mental scars.

In 2021, Alan O'Brien and Darren Redmond were found guilty of abducting and abducting and torturing Mr. Lunney, while a third man - known only as 'YZ' for legal reasons - was also found guilty.

Following Mr. Lunney's abduction, Directors received death threats.

QIH was subsequently re-branded as Mannok in 2020, deriving the name from 'Fear Manach', the Irish for 'Fermanagh'.

Mr. Quinn has denied any involvement in the incidents and has repeatedly condemned the violence.