Putting its money on development by starting with Italy, the reinforcement of its research laboratories, and concentrating production in Europe’s largest and most modern resin varnish productive units is part of the challenge launched by IVM Group, which is currently gearing up for sustained growth in Europe and 70 nations around the world after announcing at the end of last year the merger of its three companies Milesi, ILVA Polimerim and Intercoating.
The new company known as IVM Chemicals features among its primary objectives the specialization of its various brands as products as industrial excellence while continuing to add value to the particular story and commercial characteristics of each one while promoting further development in high technology and economic competitiveness.
With a consolidated international turnover of 350 million Euros and over 1,300 employees, Gruppo IVM runs against the current trend in Italian industry and is placing its hopes on increasing the competitiveness of Made in Italy products.

Hungary is now the thirteenth nation in which the Kerakoll Group vaunts a direct presence for the reinforcement of its position in Eastern Europe. The new branch with commercial office in Budapest can now be added to the list that includes presence in Spain, Poland, Greek, Holland, United Kingdom, France, Croatia, Germany, Singapore, United States, and more recently, Sweden and Portugal.
The Budapest branch run by Sandor Toth is assigned to the sale and distribution of Kerakoll products in Hungary and supported by three warehouses that ensure complete coverage of the national territory: one in Budapest for central Hungary, one in Haiduszoboszlo for Eastern Hungary, and one in Veszprem for Western Hungary.

With the inauguration of its Vietnamese productive unit located in No. 47 Chu Lai Industrial Park, Mapei has made it clear that the Group’s expansion in the Far East is a Number One priority.
Starting in 1989 with the opening of Mapei Far East in Singapore, presence increased in 1994 with the inauguration of Mapei Malaysia. The Group reached China in 2004 with the opening of a consociate in Hong Kong and the launching of another two productive units in 2006: Mapei Guangzhou and Mapei Shanghai.
The internationalization process that Mapei first began in the ‘60s has benefited from strong stimuli in recent years that has let the company significantly consolidate its position as the leader in the sector of adhesives and complementary products for the laying of floors and wall facing in ceramic tile and every other material and the chemical product for the building industry sector.

The Federation of European Parquet Producers (FEP) announced that the number of companies authorized to utilize the Real Wood trademark has now risen to 43.
Following its official presentation on the occasion of the 50th FEP meeting in Wiesbaden in 2006, the Real Wood project has rapidly taken form in the launching of a wellprogrammed website that is rich in information and structured for consumers with the objectives of increasing interest and demand for parquet, focusing attention on the wood floor sector, ensuring better product differentiation at the sales outlet, and lastly, creating a "wood floor lobby" that finally unites producers, distributors, and installers.
The logo has been officially filed by the FEP for the European Union territory.

For more information on the use of the trademark and the project, go to: www.realwood.eu.