BONN, GERMANY -- Berlin-based investment company Capiton AG has purchased Steadfast Capital GmbH's stake in blow molding machinery company Kautex Maschinenbau GmbH.
Since leaving SIG Group in 2004, Bonn-based Kautex Maschinenbau has grown and now has annual sales of more than 100 million euros ($135 milion). That's up from about 63 million euros during the recession year of 2009.
"Over the last six years, our close working relationship with Steadfast Capital has helped us to increase the Kautex Group's sales by 75 percent, despite the slump in demand experienced in 2008 and 2009," said Olaf Weiland, CEO of Kautex Maschinenbau, in a news release.
"We have invested in design and development, sales and customer service, and we are particularly proud of our new Technikum, which we opened in 2012," he said.
Capiton's purchase was approved Jan. 18 by Germany's Federal Cartel Authority. Terms were not disclosed.
The purchase also marks a milestone for Kautex managers, which now own a majority in the equity of the company: 50.1 percent.
Kautex management and Munich-based Adcuram Industriekapital AG bought the company from SIG. When Steadfast bought out Adcuram's share, Kautex managers owned 23 percent of the equity.
Weiland said Kautex is now the leader in the global market for extrusion blow molding machines. Kautex has long been known for machines to mold multilayer plastic tanks and industrial parts, but in recent years it has pursued business machine machines for consumer and industrial packaging.