CHICAGO (June 26, 6:40 p.m. EDT) — The parent company of materials-handling system manufacturer Reimelt GmbH announced at NPE that it purchased Henschel Industrietechnik GmbH, which makes mixers and material-handling equipment.
Henschel will remain largely an independent operation, at least in the beginning, but the two companies will combine their U.S. operations in plastics. Both firms focus on PVC.
Kero Holding, the Dieburg, Germany, holding company that owns Reimelt, signed an agreement June 20 to buy Henschel from its parent, German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp AG. Terms were not disclosed.
Bringing the two companies together will let them offer broader turnkey systems in material handling and expand the markets for each firm, said Kevin O'Sullivan, national sales manager for chemical and plastic systems with Reimelt Corp., the firm's U.S. wing in Odessa, Fla.
Henschel's annual sales of 32 million euros ($37 million) were also a very small part of ThyssenKrupp's worldwide operations, said Fabian Schmahl, vice president of Henschel America Inc. in Green Bay, Wis.
O'Sullivan said Henschel executives will remain in place, and it's not clear yet how the firms will integrate their worldwide operations. Reimelt is based in Röedermark, Germany, while Henschel is in Kassel, Germany.
“Each company has extensive manufacturing and assembly and it will take some time to decide how to do things,” O'Sullivan said.
Schmahl said no layoffs are planned as a result of the merger. Henschel will keep its Green Bay and Cleveland operations. U.S. plastics mixing and materials-handling systems will be run from Reimelt's U.S. headquarters in Florida, Schmahl said.
He said Henschel still will control its business in gearboxes and materials-handling systems for foundries.
Besides getting mixers in the Reimelt product portfolio, the executives said the merger will bring new markets to each firm.
O'Sullivan said Reimelt will get broader experience in plastics compounding and the powder coatings and toner markets, while Henschel will get more access to Reimelt's business in the food-handling industry.
Schmahl said Kero plans to invest substantially in Henschel, but he declined to provide details.
Reimelt does about 75 million euros ($87 million) in annual sales.
