Deal Boosts KBA's Metal Decoration Press Presence

German metal decorating press manufacturer Bauer and Kunzi is to acquire Stuttgart-based LTG Print Systems from LTG Technologies in London.

German metal decorating press manufacturer Bauer and Kunzi is to acquire Stuttgart-based LTG Print Systems from LTG Technologies in London.

KBA subsidiary Bauer and Kunzi has been cleared by the German Federal Cartel Office to proceed with the acquisition, which will include the assets of metal decorating company LTG Mailander together with all its sales subsidiaries.

KBA believes that the deal will advance the organisation to pole position in the global metal decorating press market and that the merger enables KBA-Metalprint (the new emergent company) to provide a complete one-stop service.

The technology to support product creation from the initial design to the printed and stacked sheets includes sheet-handling systems as well as catalytic, thermal and regenerative thermal air-purification systems.

They are new business fields in which KBA said it sees considerable potential for future growth.

Last year Bauer and Kunzi generated sales worth EUR28m (US$35.4m) with a workforce of approximately 50 people.

The new company, which accommodates current LTG staff, has around 350 employees and is aiming for a turnover of over EUR90m (US$113.8m).

KBA said that the move is in keeping with the company's two-pronged approach that it has pursued for a number of year years.

Whilst is growing its share of core high-volume markets in the sheetfed offset, commercial web offset and newspaper press sectors, the group is expanding its technological competence and diversity by entering high-potential niche markets.

The company added that the strategy has already enabled it to become the world's number one manufacturer of publication rotogravure and security presses.

Registered under the name KBA-Metalprint, the new operating division has its headquarters in Stuttgart (Germany) and is run by the managing directors of the two merged enterprises, Dr Werner Hagen, Gert Kummert and Uwe Rust.

The three will help to ensure a smooth transition by providing the necessary continuity for customers in the international marketplace, said KBA.

LTG Mailander's portfolio, which alongside metal-decorating offset presses includes sheet-handling equipment, coaters, dryers and air-purification systems, is a good fit with Bauer and Kunzi's product range, added the company.

LTG Mailander dates back to 1924, when it was founded by Dr Albert Klein as Carrier Lufttechnische Gesellschaft, a company manufacturing air-conditioning systems for a variety of industries.

Its association with metal decorating began in 1932 when the company built its first metal decorating oven for Nivea's world-famous blue tins of face cream.

In 1994 LTG merged with Mailander, a manufacturer of metal-decorating presses and coating systems.

Three years later the company joined the LTG Holding Group as an independent operation.

Its name was changed to LTG Mailander in 1998.

Bauer and Kunzi has been building its Metalstar presses around large-format Rapida printing units from KBA Radebeul and feeders from KBA-Madling in Austria since it entered an alliance with KBA 12 years ago.

The firm became a part of the KBA group in 2003.

Auxiliary equipment, such as drying and coating systems, was previously bought in but that has changed with the acquisition of LTG Mailander.

Back to top