IPPT acquires IMA subsidiary
Romaco Group holding company buys Kilian, an international supplier of tablet presses based in Cologne, Germany
International Process and Packaging Technologies (IPPT), the owner of the Romaco Group, a specialist in processing and packaging equipment, is to purchase Kilian, an international supplier of tablet presses located in Cologne, Germany, for €21m.
IPPT, based in Karlsruhe, Germany, a portfolio company of Deutsche Beteiligungs (DBAG), has officially signed the contract of sale with IMA Germany, a subsidiary of the Italian IMA Group.
Completion, which should take place late summer, is conditional upon the approval of the antitrust authorities.
The Romaco Group develops system solutions for the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food and chemical industries and has production sites in Germany, Switzerland and Italy, as well as sales and service centres in the US, Spain and Brazil.
Kilian, which will become a sister company of the Romaco Group, reported sales of approximately EUR45m and an EBITDA of €4.5m in 2012. Its technologies are used in the pharmaceutical, food and chemical industries both in serial production and on a laboratory scale.
According to Romaco, Kilian offers ‘outstanding prospects in national and international markets alike’ and demand for equipment from European OEMs is high in the rapidly expanding pharmaceutical markets of Asia, Eastern Europe and South America, due partly to the sharp rise in generics production worldwide.
Kilian is a seasoned company and a leader in the field of tablet press technologies
Kilian was established in Berlin in 1875 as a family owned business. The firm moved to Cologne after the Second World War, by which time numerous patents relating to tablet press design and manufacture were already in its possession.
Kilian was acquired by the IMA Group in 2000 and currently employs approximately 150 people at its Cologne headquarters.
‘Kilian is a seasoned company and a leader in the field of tablet press technologies. It has an excellent reputation in key pharmaceutical and food production markets around the globe,’ said Paulo Alexandre, CEO of IPPT.
‘Pharmaceuticals and food in general are characterised by stable growth, which is significantly stronger in the emerging countries. Our acquisition of Kilian will enable us to extend the Romaco Group’s portfolio of machinery and services with an important new segment in solid dose applications, giving a crucial boost to our growth strategy.’
Wolf-Dieter Baumann, Chairman of the Board of IPPT, added: ‘Kilian and the Romaco Group complement one another perfectly in terms of their technology profiles and markets. In purchasing Kilian, IPPT has taken another big step towards realising the Group’s strategy. In the long term, the aim is to further develop Romaco’s core competencies with DBAG’s support.’
Romaco operates at four European locations with seven brands spanning multiple industries: the Noack, Siebler and Bosspak packaging product lines are located in Karlsruhe, while Macofar, Promatic and Unipac are manufactured in Bologna, Italy.
The Processing sector business, represented by FrymaKoruma, is situated at two sites in Rheinfelden, Switzerland and Neuenburg, Germany.
The FrymaKoruma product range includes primary and secondary packaging, sterile liquid and powder filling, process technology and wet grinding.
More than 50,000 machines built by Romaco are currently in action in more than 180 countries around the globe. Around 450 staff support and supply customers worldwide.
