Gardabaer, Iceland-headquartered Marel has signed an agreement to buy TREIF Maschinenbau GmbH, a family-owned food portioning, dicing, slicing and cutting equipment supplier headquartered in Oberlahr, Germany. The purchase price is EUR 128 million in cash and 2.9 million Marel shares, with closing of the deal expected later this year, subject to customary reviews and anti-trust approval.
Founded in 1948, the company employs more than 500 people in Europe, the USA and China. It generated sales exceeding EUR 80 million last year, with EBITA amounting to around 13 million. Its primary customer base is in the meat and baked goods sectors.
According to a press release issued by Marel, the acquisition will be financed by its “strong balance sheet, existing credit facilities and available treasury shares that Uwe Reifenhäuser, current owner and chief executive officer, will hold with a lock-up period of 18 months. Pro forma leverage following completion of the acquisition is estimated to be 1.2 x net debt/EBITDA, compared to 0.6x at the end of 2Q 2020 and the targeted capital structure of 2-3 x net debt/EBITDA.
“With this transaction, two technological leaders with a shared passion for innovation and a vision to transform the way food is processed, join forces,” said Marel CEO Árni Oddur Thordarson. “We have followed TREIF for years and been impressed by their cutting-edge technology, talented team and success in customer engagement, ranging from retail shops to leading blue chip international food processing companies. Together, we are better positioned to meet customer needs in terms of automation, flexibility and time to market for consumer-ready products.
TREIF CEO Reifenhäuser added: “I am confident that we have secured the long-term success of our leading technology, our customers and our committed employees. My father founded the company more than 70 years ago with the vision to offer the best possible cutting technology in the meat segment, later expanding into dairy, baked goods and other food segments in need of precise cutting technology. Our passion has always been to deliver innovative, reliable solutions with a strong value proposition. As a result we have one of the largest food cutting product portfolio and a loyal customer base across both the retail and processing industry.”
Marel, which rang up sales of EUR 1.3 billion in 2019, is a global provider of advanced food processing equipment, systems, software and services to the poultry, meat and fish industries. It has more than 6,300 employees in over 30 countries.
