French SAINT-GOBAIN has acquired the RAAB KARCHER group (turnover EUR 2.2 billion in 1999 with nearly 300 sales points), the leading German building material distributor, for the sum of EUR 476.5 million. With this move, SAINT-GOBAIN now has over 2,500 sales points for building material in Europe, and, in this sector, makes a turnover of EUR 9.7 billion.