German equity group strikes deal to acquire CFS
George Guidoni
GeneralInternational private equity investment group GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft is acquiring Convenience Food Systems (CFS), a leading manufacturer of meat processing and packaging equipment and machinery headquartered in The Netherlands.
BOCHUM, Germany: International private equity investment group GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft is acquiring Convenience Food Systems (CFS), a manufacturer of meat processing and packaging equipment and machinery headquartered in Bakel, The Netherlands, for an undisclosed amount.
Headquartered in Germany, GEA Group is one of the world’s largest providers of industrial technology services and processes, with the food and energy processing sectors accounting for 70 per cent of its total 2009 revenues of about $5.86 billion.
“This acquisition follows our declared strategy to expand the food process technology activities of GEA Group horizontally,” explained GEA chief executive officer Jürg Oleas, adding the deal is expected to be formally concluded in the first half of 2011, pending the required regulatory and antitrust approvals.
“We are taking our portfolio another big step forward towards the less cyclical food industry,” Oleas points out. “In doing so, we can leverage the brand value of GEA by offering our customers ever more solutions along their entire process chain from one single source.”
Employing about 2,000 people worldwide, CFS is a prominent multifaceted supplier of secondary processing and packaging machinery for meat, fish, cheese and other animal protein segments of the global food industry, with expected revenues of about $533 million for the company’s current financial year.
“The market segment of animal proteins is one of the fastest-growing within the entire food industry,” says CFS chief executive Brian McCluskie. “As part of the GEA Group, we will have the chance to develop new customers and find access to new markets.
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