IPEG will become an indirect subsidiary of Piovan with CEO Kirk Winstead and Chief Financial Officer John Erkert remaining at the helm of IPEG.
The transaction creates the global leader in industrial automation in the plastics sector following Piovan's 2018 initial public offering, according to Chairman Nicola Piovan, who also alluded to future transactions.
"Two years ahead of schedule, we have doubled our size since the year of the IPO and we are confidently prepared to meet future challenges and to take advantage of any further aggregation opportunities that may arise," Piovan said in a news release.
The acquisition gives Piovan Group access to a large customer base in North America that is making investments, according to Piovan CEO Filippo Zuppichin.
"The acquisition of such an important American player and the merger of two of the largest companies in the world in the field of industrial automation for the processing of virgin and recycled polymers and bioresins will allow us to achieve important growth opportunities on a global scale," Zuppichin said. "Moreover, it will allow a faster rollout to the American market of the group's proprietary technologies particularly in the circular economy."
In particular, the deal enhances Piovan's automation products for material handling, downstream equipment, shredders and chillers; strengthens its position in the medical market; and lets it expand geographically in the United States, Mexico and India.
The acquisition of production capacity in India and the possibility to produce chillers in the United States will also allow Piovan to accelerate some industrial plans, the release noted.
Winstead described the deal as a way to join forces to better serve customers and employees.
"As we considered the future of the IPEG businesses, there were many compelling reasons to go forward with a 'stronger together' ownership structure. The strengths of the Piovan Group and IPEG are highly complementary and uniquely position the new group to leverage those strengths on a global basis," Winstead said in the release.
Piovan already had a base in North America, which it acquired in 2008 through the purchase of Universal Dynamics Inc. Una-Dyn was based near Washington, D.C., in Woodbridge, Va., until it moved south to Fredericksburg, Va., in 2018.
Plastics auxiliary equipment pioneer John Reib founded Conair in Franklin, Pa., in 1959, three years after designing the first drop-arm tumbler for coloring plastics and developing the first vacuum hopper loader.
Reib, who died in 2001, credited his wife, Lille, for coming up with the company name by using letters from a Scrabble game to rearrange its original name, Rainco Manufacturing Inc., to Conair.
