ST. LOUIS, MO,
March 16, 2011
(Press Release) -
Timothy J. Sullivan, CEO of MarquipWardUnited, Inc., and Fulvio Curioni, CEO of Officine Curioni S.p.A., have announced plans to merge their global operations, creating a new leader in corrugating machinery with annual revenues that will surpass $250 million. This strategic combination will dramatically enhance the breadth of technology, installed base and leadership talent for the combined organization, and will result in a substantial organization serving the global corrugating markets.
For more than 85 years, Curioni S.p.A. has been a significant provider of finishing machinery for the production of corrugated board boxes for the global markets. Upon the successful integration of the two companies, Curioni's manufacturing facility near Milan, Italy, will become the European headquarters for MarquipWardUnited, which includes manufacturing operations in Hungary and the U.K. and additional European sales and service offices in Germany, Spain and Ireland.
"We expect this combination of technologies and organizations will be highly synergistic as there is currently very little overlap in machinery and customer base," stated Stefano Rocca, financial director of Barry-Wehmiller in Italy. "Together, we dramatically enhance our strategy to be a dominant force in the global markets, while continuing our strong support for Curioni's traditional home markets."
The integration of Curioni within the MarquipWardUnited organization will further strengthen the company's competitive offerings for the European markets as well as provide a substantial manufacturing base in Europe, where MarquipWardUnited has made substantial investments in the development of key talent and technical resources. The combination of technologies and services will also enhance the company's markets in the Americas, where Curioni has a significant installed base of equipment.
"The breadth of technology, combined with strong sales, marketing and service teams, will complement our historic operational base in the U.S. and will be a dramatic enhancement to our focus on competitive offerings in key European as well as American markets," noted Thomas Hartmann, product and project manager for MarquipWardUnited's extensive line of high-speed finishing equipment.
Representing the third generation of family leadership, Fulvio Curioni stated, "We view this opportunity with MarquipWardUnited as a natural fit of people, technology and markets served, which is the foundation for a strong future. We believe that being part of a strong and well-positioned global player in the packaging industry, such as Barry-Wehmiller, we will be able to provide better support on a worldwide scale to our existing customer base and will benefit from the diverse experiences and skills within Barry-Wehmiller group."
The Curioni acquisition would be the 49th for Barry-Wehmiller since 1987. A combination of organic and acquisition growth has allowed Barry-Wehmiller to achieve 20 percent compound growth in revenue and share value over the past 21 years as revenues are now well in excess of $1 billion.
