ContiTech has signed a binding agreement to acquire Trelleborg’s printing blanket business, more than doubling the size of its presence in the sector. The deal is expected to complete in the first half of next year. The purchase price is not being disclosed.
Swedish group Trelleborg manufactures the Vulcan, Rollin and Printer portfolio of blankets at a site in Lodi Vecchio in northern Italy and at Mirambeau in France. The business has sales of SEK1,200 million (£102 million). It has 640 employees and distributes its blankets through a network of dealers. In the UK this includes BFS Pressroom Products, which is also a dealer for the ContiTech range.
Trelleborg announced that it wanted to shed the printing blankets business as part of a corporate restructure unveiled at the end of 2019. President and CEO Peter Nilsson says: “This divestment marks our exit from the printing blanket market. The operation is global, holds a leading position and has developed well under Trelleborg’s management. It is therefore gratifying that a new owner is taking over who can develop it further.”
ContiTech produces blankets under the Conti Air and Phoenix Xtra brands and has around 300 employees in the division. Thomas Christensen, responsible for the global printing solutions business at Continental, says: “Printing technology customers will also benefit from a broader global footprint.”
The deal takes the company into blankets for digital printing and carrier sleeves for flexo, as well as blankets for all styles of offset litho printing.
Like Trelleborg, Continental is a vast conglomerate with ContiTech as its rubber technologies group. This includes tyres, industrial products, surface materials, drive belts and window and pool films.
The deal marks a further consolidation in the supply of printing blankets. Trelleborg had built a group through acquisition of Rollin and Reeves between 2006 and 2013. Meanwhile, Flint Group has created a portfolio on acquisition of the Duco, DavidM and Day International’s blanket ranges.
