Machinery companies build up portfolios with acquisitions

Well-known plastics machinery brands Davis-Standard L.L.C. and Brabender GmbH & Co. K.G. were involved in some big acquisition deals in the second half of 2023.

Pawcatuck, Conn.-based Davis-Standard acquired Bad Oeynhausen, Germany-based Extrusion Technology Group to complement and diversify its product portfolio. Davis-Standard makes extrusion equipment and converting systems for flexible packaging and films, rigid packaging and sheet, and products like conduit for infrastructure and industrial uses.

ETG's portfolio covers extrusion equipment and downstream processing equipment under the Battenfeld-Cincinnati, Exelliq (formerly Greiner Extrusion) and Simplas brands. The company, founded in 1943, also makes tooling and dies for the pipe, profile, film and sheet markets. It operates in Europe, the U.S. and Asia.

Founded in 1848, Davis-Standard employs about 1,500 people and operates out of manufacturing and technical facilities in the U.S., Canada, China, Germany, Finland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

ETG has 1,200 employees with the main operating sites in Bad Oeynhausen and Kempen, Germany; Vienna and Nussbach, Austria; Foshan City and Shunde, China; McPherson, Kan., and Meadville, Pa., in the U.S.; Czech Republic; and Italy.

All ETG employees will be retained, Davis-Standard CEO Giovanni Spitale said in an email, adding that officials at his firm have long admired ETG's capabilities and products.

"We have always viewed the brands within ETG as innovative and customer-focused, similar to us," Spitale said. "Battenfeld-Cincinnati's capabilities in large-diameter extrusion are impressive, and the downstream equipment from Exelliq has a reputation for high-quality products."

The ETG acquisition will be highly complementary and diversifying for Davis-Standard, giving the "fast-growing enterprise" a broader and deeper product portfolio, Spitale added. The ETG business will be a standalone segment that continues to serve its customers with additional support and capabilities from the broader Davis-Standard platform, he added.

Terms of the deal between Davis-Standard owner Gamut Capital Management L.P. and ETG entities controlled by the Dutch investor Nimbus weren't disclosed. ETG CEO Gerold Schley will join the Davis-Standard senior leadership team and continue to manage the ETG business and its employees after the deal closes. Through Davis-Standard, Spitale said he and Schley will be partners "as we invest further to accelerate growth and our global capabilities."

Duisburg, Germany-based Brabender was acquired by Anton Paar GmbH, an Austrian maker of materials measuring equipment. Brabender is known in the plastics industry for its single- and twin-screw extruders.

But Anton Paar said it's most interested in the company for its materials testing and measuring equipment. That equipment is used by—in addition to plastics and rubber processors—the food, feed and chemical industries, for batteries and other applications. Anton Paar noted Brabender extruders are even used to develop alternative protein sources for use in meat substitutes.

"The decisive factor for Anton Paar's decision to purchase Brabender was the know-how in the development and production of world-leading measuring instruments," Anton Paar CEO Friedrich Santner said in a news release.

Brabender and its 200 employees will be integrated under the name Anton Paar TorqueTec GmbH. Brabender executive director David Szczesny said in the news release that joining Anton Paar will open up many new opportunities, especially in product research and development.

Graz, Austria-based Anton Paar has 11 manufacturing sites in the U.S. and Europe and employed more than 4,000 before the acquisition. The 101-year-old company is owned by the charitable Santner Foundation.

In toolmaking, Udine, Italy-based toolmaker Self Group s.r.l. acquired Baxter, Minn.-based toolmaker Avantech Inc. for about $8 million to have a presence in North America and add capabilities to serve rotational molders. Founded in 1950, Self Group specializes in manufacturing large-dimension tooling for thermoforming, compression and reaction injection molding processing.

Avantech, founded in 1988 as Lakeland Mold, started out producing cast and computer numerically controlled-cut aluminum tooling and molds for rotational molding customers, which grew to include John Deere, Toro, Igloo and Old Town Canoe Co. In 2014, the company rebranded as Avantech to reflect its added services for product development and tool repair.

With the deal, Avantech will see immediate growth with the transfer of toolmaking opportunities currently going to Italy, while Self Group will expand by entering the European rotational mold market, according to Self Group CEO Andrea Zonta.

In a second-half equipment deal, Big Chief Inc., a fabricator and distributor of industrial thermal equipment for plastics processors, was sold to private equity firm Gryphon Investors.

Gryphon has investments in more than 30 companies spanning from plastics to health care. The San Francisco firm closed the Big Chief deal through an umbrella company it launched for the occasion, Thermal Technology Distribution Solutions. Terms were not disclosed.

Jeff Howe, former chief commercial officer of Big Chief and now its president, said Gryphon is just what his company was searching for in a buyer: "They were the obvious choice. We were looking for someone intent on growing the business with Big Chief as its platform."

Craig Nikrant, operating partner of Gryphon's small-cap Heritage Fund, said Gryphon already has identified opportunities to grow Big Chief, both organically and by "pursuing add-on acquisitions that complement BC's core strengths and enable it to scale rapidly."