Röchling Group, a German automotive and technical components producer, has boosted its high-performance plastics division by acquiring three businesses in Europe.
Looking ahead, the Mannheim, Germany-based engineering firm is still on the acquisition trail, with further takeovers scheduled in the near future, said Chief Executive Officer Georg Duffner.
Röchling's latest purchases, which reflect its intent to become a global processing player, include injection molder SGT Spritzgiesstechnik GmbH of Weidenberg, Germany.
In addition, it bought the Bacup, England-based general engineering operations of GL&V Corp. of Montreal, an extruder of profiles and other parts, and Meta-Plast A/S, which machines finished plastic components at its Allingåbro, Denmark, headquarters and in Liepaja, Latvia.
``These companies are a good match for the group and can easily be integrated,'' Duffner said. Together the three businesses employ 150 and have combined annual sales of 18 million euros ($23 million).
SGT molds precision parts, focusing on fully automatic metal and plastic compounds, as well as small high-performance, micro-injected and multicomponent parts. SGT raises Röchling's profile in the engineering plastics sector, according to the company. Meta-Plast enlarges Röchling's machining business and increases its market share in Scandinavia, the firm said.
``Röchling will move on consistently in its progress toward becoming one of the world's leading plastics processing enterprises,'' Duffner said.
During the past year, Röchling has evolved from industrial conglomerate to plastics processor. This month, Röchling said it had disposed of the last business in its former electronics division, BEA Technische Dienste Lausitz GmbH, a builder of industrial plants for the open-cast coal, power-generation and hydro-engineering sectors. BEA of Spremberg, Germany, was sold to equity investment firm Arques Industries AG of Starnberg, Germany.
Röchling, which employs 5,400 worldwide, has annual sales of about 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion).