Krones closes acquisition of Netstal from cash-strapped KraussMaffei

German packaging and bottle machine manufacturer Krones AG has closed the acquisition of Swiss injection press supplier Netstal Machinen AG, first announced on Jan. 29, 2024.

The acquisition also includes Netstal Deutschland GmbH, a sales and service subsidiary based in Stuttgart, plus 11 other sales and service units in the US, South America, Europe, and Asia. The purchase agreement was signed yesterday, Feb. 6, with a price around €170 million.

The seller is Germany's financially struggling KraussMaffei Technologies GmbH. KraussMaffei’s CEO, Chi Zhang, said in a statement disclosing the sale that ‘the sale of Netstal give us leeway to make further investments, for example in digitalisation and the development of new machines’.

KraussMaffei lost at least 2.55 billion RMB (€333.2 million) and as much as to 3.0 billion RMB (€392.0 million) in 2023, according to a “pre-loss announcement” issued Jan. 31

“The sale of Netstal is part of our long-term plan to realign KraussMaffei strategically, organisationally and on the global market. In future, we want to concentrate fully on our core business and new growth markets, strengthen the KraussMaffei core brand and focus the Group accordingly,” Zhang added.

KraussMaffei officials have always denied speculation that Netstal was for sale. Plans for the eventual sale have been rumoured since August 2021, when KraussMaffei announced that KraussMaffei High Performance AG would become an independent unit with its name reverting back to Netstal, effective Oct. 1, 2021.

Krones generated sales of 200 million euros with around 530 employees in 2023. As part of the sale, all employees will transfer from KraussMaffei to Krones. Netstal will continue to manage its business independently and its CEO of many years, Renzo Davatz, will continue to manage the company.

Netstal’s consolidated share of KraussMaffei Group’s total sales in the 2023 financial year was just under 20%, according to a statement announcing the sale.