11 January 2006 – JM, a private investment company owned by Jakob Meller and other family members, has sold the Kiefel plastics processing machinery businesses, with effect from 1 January.
Kiefel AG in Freilassing, a manufacturer of thermoforming machinery, Kiefel Extrusion in Worms, a manufacturer of blown film extrusion lines and its Swiss winder subsidiary Wintech will join Siegdorf-based Brückner, which produces primarily biaxial orientation equipment for both blown and cast film.
The move means that JM will now achieve its aim of focussing on the production and sale of plastic film through its retained ownership in Renolit and Rheinische Kunststoffwerk (RKW).
Kiefel Extrusion ceo Edgar Gandelheidt pointed out to Prw.com that the Kiefel plastics machinery businesses added only €120m to JM’s turnover, compared with the €1.5bn from the Renolit and RKW film operations.
The Kiefel businesses will take the expanded Brückner group’s turnover to €320m.
Gandelheidt added: “It is very positive for us. Our new MDO monoaxial stretching equipment is suitable for mid to small volumes of 300-500 kg/h and complements the biaxial equipment at Brückner that is more suitable for large volumes of around 2-3 tonnes/h. The applications are different, but I see it very positively, as we can now advise customers with applications in the intermediate volume range as one company”.
For Brecker, the deal also brings the Kiefel Extrusion blown film extrusion lines into the group to complement its Brückner Formtec cast film lines.
