ContiTech AG, Hanover, has strengthened its printing blanket business with the purchase of PHOENIX Xtra PRINT GmbH of Waltershausen, Germany. Contracts in this regard have been signed. In order for the contract to go into force legally, the EU Antitrust Commission must first give its consent, which is expected at the beginning of July. "With ContiTech and Phoenix Xtra Print, two equally strong printing blanket manufacturers are merging, suitably complementing their worldwide market presence," says Heiko Eymer, general manager of ContiTech Elastomer-Beschichtungen GmbH. "This is the best prerequisite for continuing profitable growth in an extremely competitive market.“
Both companies have service centers outside of Germany where they sell and process printing blankets. ContiTech is represented in China and Belgium, Phoenix Xtra Print in Singapore and through its subsidiary OktoPrint Services in Russia. The two companies complement one another with regards to development and production as well, giving rise to a worldwide leading supplier of high-quality printing blankets.
Printing blankets are replaceable elements used in the offset printing of newspapers and magazines as well as packaging, metal and foils.
PHOENIX Xtra PRINT GmbH formerly belonged to Phoenix AG and was taken over by the management and a private equity fund administered by BPE Private Equity G.m.b.H. (Hamburg) in the framework of a management buy-out in 2001. Since it was founded in 1998, BPE Private Equity G.m.b.H. has focused on the financing of management buy-outs of small and medium-sized German companies with turnover ranging from EUR15 million and EUR150 million. As a rule, these transactions usually serve as the solution to problems regarding the legal successor, or as is the case with Phoenix Xtra Print, as carve outs or spin offs of sections of operations that do not belong to the core business or subsidiaries from corporations. In the framework of these transactions, the operative management always takes a holding in the purchased company.
Phoenix Xtra Print has a workforce of about 85 at its Waltershausen and Hamburg locations. In Waltershausen, the company has one of Europe’s most modern production facilities for printing blankets. ContiTech currently has a staff of some 130 in the printing blanket area and also produces exclusively in Germany. Decades of experience and development competence has turned the two companies into international technology partners to printers, the graphic arts trade and manufacturers of printing machinery throughout the world. Phoenix Xtra Print has produced printing blankets since 1930, is represented in more than 60 countries with its products and exports 85% of its production. ContiTech has been supplying printing blankets for 100 years and exports 75% of its output. The general managers of Phoenix Xtra Print will be heading the new printing blanket segment of ContiTech. They expressly welcomed the merger, feeling that it puts them in an excellent position to deal with the requirements of the market in the future. The product brands of both companies will continue to exist.
