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Heidelberg sells Gallus Group to benpac Holding

Heidelberg has sold Gallus Group to benpac Holding, a Swiss packaging business, for about 120 million euros, after deciding to focus on sheet-fed printing. Gallus Group develops and manufactures both conventional and digital narrow web rotary label presses out of production facilities in Switzerland and Germany.

Following 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. These five sites employ a total of approximately 430 employees in Germany and Switzerland.

benpac, headquartered in Stans, Switzerland, is a group of companies with a specialty in packaging technologies, engineering, IT technology and consulting.

Heidelberg and benpac have agreed that Heidelberg will remain in close collaboration following the takeover by continuing to manage the sales and service of the Gallus portfolio, allowing Gallus customers to continue to benefit from Heidelberg’s service network.

Heidelberg expects the deal to generate earnings in the mid-two-digit million-euros range. The parameters will be finalized at the time of the deal closing. The sale is expected to take place before the end of 2020.

Going forward, Heidelberg and benpac will work together on the Gallus Labelfire digital label press, which Heidelberg will continue supplying the digital printing unit and consumables for.

“Our aim is to ensure the long-term financial stability of Heidelberg, and all the measures since our transformation started in March this year have been geared toward this objective,” said Marcus A. Wassenberg, Heidelberg’s CFO. “Selling the Gallus Group is another key part of our realignment and follows on from the successes we have achieved so far during the transformation process. This further major boost to our liquidity and Group equity will be a big help, especially during the coronavirus crisis.”

Marco Corvi, CEO and chairman of the board of directors of benpac Holding, added that the acquisition completes the company’s overall range in the packaging sector, ensuring the entire value chain is covered.