Heidelberg Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) sells the Gallus Group to the Swiss packaging company benpac holding ag, in Stans, Switzerland, determined to focus on core sheetfed printing business.
In the future, Heidelberg and Benpac will work closely together on the Gallus Labelfire digital label printing machine. Heidelberg will continue to supply the Digital Printing Unit (DPU) and consumables for this equipment.
“We are selling our rotary printing and narrow web rotary printing activities to focus more on innovative solutions for the entire printed sheet value chain. We will retain our in-house digital expertise and, by collaborating with Benpac at Gallus Labelfire, we will continue to advance and gain new insights that we can later apply to digitizing conventional printing machines. At the same time, we will continue to be a major supplier in the growing label market with our offset technology, ”he explains. Rainer Hundsdorfer, CEO of Heidelberg.
In the transaction, Benpac will assume ownership of Gallus Holding AG in St. Gallen, Gallus Ferd. Rüesch AG in St. Gallen, Gallus Druckmaschinen GmbH in Langgöns, Heidelberg Web Carton Converting GmbH (WCC) in Weiden in der Oberpfalz and Menschick Trockensysteme GmbH in Renningen; a total of five locations with around 430 employees in Germany and Switzerland. With an agreed purchase price of around € 120 million, Heidelberg expects the deal to generate millions of euros in profit. Parameters will be finalized upon closing. The sale, which has yet to be approved by the relevant bodies and is subject to other precedent conditions, will take effect before the end of 2020.
Benpac and Heidelberg have agreed that Heidelberg will continue to manage the sales and service of the entire Gallus portfolio, in close cooperation, after the acquisition.
With production facilities in Switzerland and Germany, Gallus develops and manufactures rotating narrow web label equipment using both conventional and digital technology. The machine portfolio is complemented by a range of screen printing plates (Gallus Screeny), decentralized global service activities and a wide selection of accessories and spare parts. Heidelberg Web Carton Converting offers high-quality printing solutions for folding carton feeding.
