Mannesmann AG's spinoff venture of engineering and automotive business, including plastics machinery, now has a name — Atecs — and a specific time-frame for its initial public offering, according to a top official in Germany. Included in the IPO will be Mannesmann Plastics Machinery, the world's largest maker of plastics machinery.
Wolfgang Vogl said Atecs will go public in June or July. Atecs stands for Advanced Technologies.
Vogl is chairman both of MPM and of Mannesmann Demag Krauss-Maffei AG. To prepare for the IPO, on Jan. 1, MPM was merged with MDKM, which is part of the engineering division of Dusseldorf, Germany-based Mannesmann AG. But Vogl, in a recent telephone interview, said the plastics machinery business will continue to use the MPM name.
Vogl said MPM generated 1999 sales of about $1.1 billion from its six companies: Van Dorn Demag, Demag Ergotech, Krauss-Maffei, Netstal, Billion and Berstorff.
Mannesmann has accelerated the timetable for the IPO now that Mannesmann has decided to welcome the takeover bid by Britain's Vodaphone AirTouch plc.
In another development, MDKM confirmed in mid-February that it wants to sell three businesses: process technology supplier Krauss-Maffei Verfahrenstechnik GmbH; Flottweg GmbH/Veronesi, which makes centrifuges and filters; and Baasel Lasertechnik GmbH, which makes lasers and laser systems.
Company officials said the three units are not related to the plastics equipment operations.