Barnes Group Inc. CEO Patrick Dempsey said the Foboha rotating-cube mold business, which the company announced it was buying July 12, strengthens its Molding Solutions unit — and is an especially good fit with the Otto Männer specialty of stack molds and hot runner systems.
“We're extremely excited to have [Foboha] become part of our Molding Solutions group. This company is renown in the industry for having the highest technology,” Dempsey said during Barnes' second quarter conference call on July 29. He said cube molding “is employed in some of the most demanding injection molding applications” including in-mold assembly.
Dempsey said Männer has traditionally been strong in stack molds, as well as hot runners. Foboha's focus is turning-cube molds. Both are based in Germany, but are global players, he said.
Foboha and Männer can help strengthen each other in new regions, he said. Foboha has an operation in Suzhou, China. Männer's U.S. facility is in Lawrenceville, Ga., near Atlanta. “Foboha has always looked at the opportunity of expanding in North America, and having a greater presence here, and Atlanta will allow them to do so,” Dempsey said. And he said Männer has wanted to expand more in China, and Foboha will help that effort.
“So it's highly complementary on both fronts” he said.
Dempsey said “progress has been moving extremely well” to expand Männer's Atlanta facility, “with a transfer of technology and know-how from the Germany operations to leverage their capabilities into the U.S.”
The deal to buy Foboha from Adval Tech Holding AG for $136 million is not expected to close until the third quarter. But in its second quarter financial report, Barnes gave out more details about the Haslach, Germany-based Foboha. Foboha generated 2015 sales of about $75 million. Packaging accounts for 60 percent of sales, followed by 20 percent from medical, 15 percent from consumer products and 5 percent from automotive.
Barnes also detailed Foboha's sales by geography: 26 percent from Germany and 22 percent from the United States, followed by China and South America (10 percent each), Austria (6 percent), Switzerland (4 percent), other European nations (13 percent), and an “other” category (9 percent).
Foboha employs about 375 worldwide.
Dempsey said Barnes will give out more information about Foboha in its third quarter report, once the deal is final.
Barnes is traded on the New York Stock Exchange.