Ohio-based machinery supplier HPM suddenly has become multinational.
Its parent, Taylor's Industrial Services LLC, has acquired Italian injection press maker Sandretto Industrie SpA and Windsor Kunststofftechnologie GmbH, a company in Hanau, Germany, that makes retrofit injection units for two-shot molding and that repairs and rebuilds Windsor injection presses.
The deal was announced March 16. Trezzano, Italy-based Cannon Group was the seller. Terms were not disclosed.
``It gives us a chance to play the dollar factor around the world and use our purchasing power and global capacity,'' said Christopher Filos, president and chief executive officer of Taylor's and HPM.
Filos said the Sandretto and HPM plants will share some resources.
``But for the most part, the two companies will be run as two distinct product lines,'' he said.
The combined companies will have about $200 million in annual sales and 1,000 employees worldwide, Filos said.
Those figures include HPM's die-casting machinery business, the only part of the business not related to plastics. HPM makes injection presses, extrusion lines and die-casting machines in Mount Gilead, Ohio.
Sandretto sold about 570 injection molding machines in 2004, Filos said. HPM sold 30-40 last year, almost all of them large-tonnage machines with clamping forces of 1,500 tons or more.
Cannon had acquired Sandretto in 1997 from the Italian government, and Windsor in 1998. The idea was to build a diversified plastics machinery company with existing Cannon businesses of polyurethane foam equipment, thermoforming machinery and compression molding machines.
But the plan did not work as expected.
``These synergies are not enough to create additional revenues and now we have decided to sell this business to a group that proved to operate successfully in this very competitive market,'' said Marco Volpato, Cannon's managing director.
Taylor's Industrial Services got into the machinery business in 2001, when it bought the assets of HPM Corp., just before HPM filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation.
HPM signaled something was up a month ago, when it announced HPM would be the exclusive U.S. and Canadian distributor for Sandretto presses. Filos said the companies complement each other in markets, product ranges and manufacturing locations. HPM makes large presses, while Sandretto and Windsor make medium-sized and special presses.
``HPM is strong in North America, while Sandretto has a good reputation and market share in Europe and South America,'' he said.
Sandretto, based in Turin, Italy, has three machinery plants in Italy and one in Brazil. The injection press plant in Brazil is a major player in South America, and Filos called it ``one of the gems of the whole company.'' He said local management in Brazil will remain in place.
Key markets for HPM include automotive and appliances. Sandretto is better known in packaging, medical and other markets.
Taylor's Industrial Services is based in Tinton Falls, N.J.
