Gerresheimer's Technical Plastics Unit Sold to FBH
Jul 01, 2009
Glass and plastics products producer Gerresheimer has today sold its Gerresheimer Wilden technical plastics moulding business to FBH Frankfurter of Bad Solden, Germany, for ˆ12m, including unspecified debts.
The deal is intended to enable Gerresheimer, which posted sales of ˆ1.06bn last year, to focus on its core pharmaceutical and life science activities; Gerresheimer Wilden is primarily an automotive industry supplier.
Gerresheimer indicated its intention to sell the technical plastics moulding business in August 2008, after it sold the Wilden consumer healthcare business unit to the Krallmann group.
The company said last year that the Gerresheimer Wilden operation “does not belong to our core business and lies significantly below the margin expectations of the Gerresheimer group”.
This year, the company attributed a reduction in group EBITDA over the first quarter of 2009 to temporary capacity adjustments and “a slightly negative result in the segment of technical plastics”.
Gerresheimer’s technical plastics business resulted from its acquisition of the moulding company Wilden in January 2007. That deal had seen the Gerresheimer’s Plastic Systems Division expand from ˆ48.2m in 2006 to ˆ299.7m in 2007.
The Gerresheimer Wilden technical plastics unit accounted for sales of ˆ74m in 2008, including the plastics tooling business that is also part of the disposal to FBH. However, the company said that it expected sales of only ˆ35-45m for this year.
The acquisition of the Gerresheimer Wilden business complements FBH’s holding in the Thermoplast Technik automotive plastics moulding company, which it acquired in 2006 and which holds a strong position in ventilation, lighting and interior applications with equipment ranging up to 1,300 tonnes.
