Hose maker Norres Baggerman to get new private equity owner

GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany—Norres Baggerman Group expects to see new ownership under a mid-market investment firm that Norres leaders say fits well with the industrial hose maker's culture.

German investment giant Triton Partners (specifically, the Triton Mid-Cap Fund I) has agreed to sell Norres Baggerman, including its South Bend, Ind.-based Norres North America unit, to middle market investment firm Nalka DACH Investments SA SICAF-RAIF, which has offices in Munich and Stockholm.

Terms of the March 30 transaction were not disclosed. It is unclear when the sale is expected to close.

"Triton has played a substantial role in the development of our company and has contributed the necessary support to successfully execute our expansion goals," said Ralf Dahmer, CEO of Norres Baggerman. "We want to thank Triton for the loyal and trustful companionship during the last years.

"Nalka and Norres Baggerman share common goals and we are happy to become part of the Nalka family. We believe that the new cooperation will have enormous and long-term growth potential to the benefit of our clients and employees."

Norres Schlauchtechnik was founded in 1889 in Gelsenkirchen and develops, produces and sells industrial hoses for pneumatic conveyance of solids, gases or liquids for a wide variety of end markets, such as fume and dust extraction, agriculture, food and pharmaceutical, plastics and wood processing.

The company employs about 400 people across six international production facilities and 15 global sales and warehousing sites.

Since Triton acquired a majority share of the Norres Group in 2018 (Norres Group did not acquire the Netherlands-based Baggerman Group until July 2021), the company has witnessed dramatic growth.

Norres completed three acquisitions under Triton, including the Swedish hose distributor Jarl Elmgren A.B. and Italian hose manufacturer and distributor De Bernardi in 2020; and the Baggerman Group in 2021.

Since 2018, Norres has seen 10-percent annual organic growth, and increased its industrial hose and component sales by more than 170 percent to more than $109 million per year.

"We want to thank Ralf Dahmer, his management team, and all employees of Norres Baggerman for the great collaboration, and their contribution to and execution in developing Norres Baggerman into a pan-European market leader in its sector through often uncertain times," said Andi Klein, managing partner at Triton. "We believe that Norres is very well positioned for a sustainable future and that Nalka is the right partner to accompany Norres Baggerman into further future success."

Nalka, part of Swiss-based Interogo Holding, typically invests in small- to medium-sized firms based in the Nordic and DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) regions.

Triton Partners acquired a majority share of Norres Group (Norres Schlauchtechnik) in 2018, though the Norres Group acquisition of Netherlands-based Baggerman Group would not occur until July 2021.

At that point, the Norres Group became the Norres Baggerman Group.

Terms of the transaction for Baggerman, a Dutch manufacturer of industrial hoses, couplings and accessories, were not disclosed at the time.

"With the Baggerman Group we have found the right partner for our internationalization strategy," Ralf Dahmer, CEO of Norres Group, said in 2021. "The two product portfolios complement each other perfectly. Together with Baggerman, we are now represented in all relevant European markets through our subsidiaries, production facilities and distribution centers."

Through Baggerman, Norres continues to offer its comprehensive product portfolio consisting of PE, PU, PVC and rubber hoses, as well as connection technology.

Jan Baggerman, owner of Baggerman Group, said at the time that "Baggerman is very much looking forward to the future with Norres."

"The products, know-how and many years of experience of both companies are a great combination," Baggerman told Rubber News in 2021. "We expect the concentration of the joint know-how to improve the solution competence and the service level for our customers as well as a good long-term perspective for the joint group."

Baggerman brought branches in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary and Romania into the fold for Norres Group, and at the time of the acquisition employed 140 people and owned 35 registered trade names.

The flexible industrial hose maker, with its North American headquarters in South Bend, Ind., has plans to continue its upward trend as demand skyrockets in many of the industries Norres serves, including food and pharmaceutical, automotive, agricultural, exhaust gas, conveyance and wood processing, among many others.

Norres North America primarily manufactures polyurethane hose, ducting and high-temperature exhaust hose (up to 2,000 degrees) at the South Bend factory.

"The future is very bright for us as a company," Mark Bobonick, director of sales and operations for North America, told Rubber News at the August 2021 NAHAD Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.

A subsidiary of Norres Schlauchtechnik (at the time), Norres N.A. was established in 2014 after the firm purchased a 30,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing plant and warehouse that sits on nearly four acres in the heart of the Midwest.

Proximity to customers with the central U.S. location was key in establishing the South Bend plant nine years ago, Norres officials said.

The firm started producing hose for sale in the U.S., Canadian and Mexican markets in mid-2015 in a 15,000-sq.-ft. refurbished section of the site.

And in July 2022, on the heels of double-digit sales growth in 2021, the hose maker opened a new 55,000-sq.-ft. facility in South Bend, shutting down the old 30,000-sq.-ft. facility.

With a strong, 60-plus year legacy of manufacturing in Germany, Norres also boasts sites in the United Kingdom, France, Czech Republic, Poland, China, Italy, Sweden and Taiwan.

Norres set up a production plant in the U.S. because "it wanted to take what we have established at our other subsidiaries and transfer our expertise across the North American market," Bobonick said.

The North American subsidiary produces metal, Airduc, Protape, Barduc, Norplast, Norflex, Isoplast, Timberduc and Chip Profile high temperature hose lines, among others.

The South Bend plant can manufacture roughly 50-60 percent of the products that can be found in Norres' most recent catalog.