WEB EXCLUSIVE: Brazilian injection machine maker buying Sandretto

Industrias Romi, Brazil’s largest maker of injection molding machines, and the country’s largest maker of machine tools, has a contract to acquire the assets of Sandretto, the financially distressed Italian injection machine manufacturer.

Romi, which is headquartered in Santa Bárbara D’Oeste, about 70 miles northwest of São Paulo, Brazil, said it will pay €5.5 million/$8.7 million for assets including land and buildings, machinery, tools, technology and drawings, trademarks and patents, technical and commercial information, and all the company’s shares.

Romi also will hire the Sandretto’s 295 employees and provide an operating capital inflow of €8 million/$12.6 million during the two years following the acquisition. The deal needs the approval of Romi’s shareholders, who will meet on June 4, 2008, and it is expected the deal will be closed a few days following the expected approval. Romi said the acquisition is in line with its strategy of expanding its product portfolio and its base of operations and markets, which strategy was approved recently by Romi’s board of directors.

In its announcement of the purchase, Romi emphasized Sandretto’s history and depth of experience of its people, noting that the company had made and sold more than 30,000 machines in it’s 61-year history. Sandretto has two factories near Turin, Italy, operating subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Spain, France, and The Netherlands, and service centers in several other countries.

The largest portion of Romi’s business by far is machine tools, being about two thirds of its sales. Injection machines and cast iron parts, its third market focus, each represent about 17% of the company’s turnover.