DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY — GEA Group, one of the largest suppliers for the food processing industry, has agreed to acquire Imaforni Int’l S.p.A., a Verona, Italy-based supplier of industrial processing equipment and solutions for the biscuits industry. Imaforni generated revenues in excess of €85 million with approximately 210 employees in fiscal year 2015.
GEA said the acquisition of Imaforni is “highly complementary” to its acquisition of Torrebelvicino, Italy-based Comas that took place last year. Comas has been a specialist in the bakery sector since 1972, and has grown to become a key player for the supply of top level equipment and complete production lines for cakes, pies, cookies, layer cakes, pastry, pizza and bread.
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| Jürg Oleas, c.e.o. of GEA |
“We are happy about the chance to acquire with Imaforni another technology specialist,” said Jürg Oleas, chief executive officer of GEA. “This makes GEA a market leader for sophisticated equipment for the biscuits industry. Since we have sold our heat exchangers business in 2014 we have made six bolt-on acquisitions perfectly complementing our existing application-based competencies. In total, these acquisitions have further raised the group`s profitability, while the margins of the heat exchanger business were below average.”
