Nissei Plastic Industrial Co. Ltd. is buying Italian machinery maker Negri Bossi SpA in a move that will add large-tonnage injection molding machines and a greater geographic reach to its product line.
The Nissei board of directors announced Nov. 21 that it expects to buy 75 percent of the shares by January 2020 and purchase the remaining shares “within a few years.” The announcement did not specify how much Nagano, Japan-based Nissei will pay per share.
Nissei spokesman Mac Otsuka was unable to provide information beyond the news release. Plastics News has reached out to Negri Bossi for further comment.
Nissei’s announcement follows an Oct. 20 Plastics News report from K 2019 in Düsseldorf, Germany, that Negri Bossi was in talks for a sale.
Negri Bossi has changed hands before. In 2014, another Italian plastics equipment major, Sacmi Group, sold Negri Bossi to Kingsbury Corp., a machinery firm based in Rush, N.Y. AuSable Capital Partners LLC of Santa Monica, Calif., also bought a stake in the company.
Kingsbury was the majority shareholder, owning 99.9 percent of Negri Bossi, according to the news release.
Milan-based Negri Bossi posted 94.5 million euros ($104.6 million) in sales for 2018, but also saw 1.8 million euros ($2 million) in net losses. Sales in 2017 were 105.6 million euros ($116.9 million), with losses of 165,000 euros ($182,608). That followed sales of 108.4 million euros ($120 million) and a profit of 1.4 million euros ($1.5 million) in 2016.
Negri Bossi employs about 350 across two manufacturing sites in Italy, one in India and one in China. Its range of injection molding machines of up to 7,000 metric tons outpaces Nissei’s existing press range, which goes up to 1,300 tons, Nissei said.
Negri Bossi’s product portfolio also includes the Sytrama-brand of Cartesian robots and other automation equipment.
In addition, Negri Bossi brings sales in Europe, Russia, Africa and India, where Nissei’s sales and service network has been weak, the Japanese company said. At the same time, Nissei will provide more strength in the United States, Japan, China and elsewhere in Asia, where Negri Bossi has had limited exposure.
Regionally, China is Nissei’s strongest market, the company told Plastics News in an interview at K. It sells around 1,200 injection presses annually there. Globally, Nissei sells about 3,500 units a year.
Nissei said Negri Bossi’s access to its facilities will lead to more efficient production, citing the Italian company’s dependence on outsourcing. Other expected synergies between the two machinery makers include improvements in production capacity, shorter delivery times and cost reduction by sharing supply chains.
Worldwide, Nissei has more than 1,200 employees. Sales for fiscal 2019, ending March 31, totaled about 44 billion Japanese yen ($405.9 million). Approximately 76 percent of sales were from injection molding machines, according to company figures.
Nissei said it would be “difficult to predict” the group’s sales following the acquisition.
