Germany-based International Process and Packaging Technologies GmbH (IPPT),a portfolio company of Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG) and owner of the Romaco Group, has purchased Kilian GmbH & Co. KG, a subsidiary of the Italian IMA Group.

The official contract of sale has just been signed by IPPT and IMA , The final completion of the contract is conditional, amongst other things, on the approval of the antitrust authorities. The transaction is expected to be concluded in the late summer.

IPPT has production sites in Germany, Switzerland and Italy as well as Sales & Service Centres in the US, Spain and Brazil. Kilian will be a sister company of the Romaco Group.

Kilian is a leading international supplier of tablet press machines sited in Cologne with reported sales of approximately EUR45 million in 2012. The manufacturer’s technologies are used in the pharmaceutical, food and chemical industries both in serial production and on a laboratory scale. Apart from a wide range of tablets for pharmaceutical use, stock cubes, dishwasher tabs and pressed dextrose and sweetener products are just a few of the many applications. The portfolio encompasses a variety of services in addition to classic machines and lines.

“Kilian is a seasoned company and a leader in the field of tablet press technologies. It has an excellent reputation in key pharmaceutical and food production markets around the globe”, explained Paulo Alexandre, CEO of IPPT. “Pharmaceuticals and food in general are characterised by stable growth, which is significantly stronger in the emerging countries. Our acquisition of Kilian will enable us to extend the Romaco Group’s portfolio of machinery and services with an important new segment in solid dose applications, giving a crucial boost to our growth strategy.”

“Kilian and the Romaco Group complement one another perfectly in terms of their technology profiles and markets. In purchasing Kilian, IPPT has taken another big step towards realising the Group’s strategy. In the long term, the aim is to further develop Romaco’s core competencies with DBAG’s support”, added Wolf-Dieter Baumann, Chairman of the Board of IPPT.