MarquipWardUnited to Acquire Körber AG's Papersystems Group

MarquipWardUnited Inc. (Phillips, Wis., USA), a Barry-Wehmiller company, will acquire Körber AG's (Hamburg, Germany) Papersystems companies: E.C.H. Will GmbH (Wedel, Germany), Pemco Inc. (Sheboygan, Wis.), and Kugler-Womako GmbH (Nürtingen, Germany), pending approval of the respective antitrust authorities. The combination of these industry leaders expands MarquipWardUnited's sheeter footprint, establishing BW Papersystems as the leading supplier of sheeting and sheet packaging machinery in the world with solutions for the widest range of applications for the paper converting, manufacturing, and packaging industries. In addition, MarquipWardUnited will add machines for stationery manufacturers and bookbinders to its portfolio and will assume a leading position in the production of machines for the manufacture of passports.

E.C.H. Will, Pemco, and Kugler-Womako generated combined sales averaging $125 million during the past five years. As part of the transaction, their 350+ associates will join MarquipWardUnited's 1,100 team members worldwide.

MarquipWardUnited manufactures high-speed sheeter equipment for the paper converting and folding carton converting industries worldwide as well as machinery for the worldwide corrugated board industry. E.C.H. Will manufactures cut size sheeters for the production of copy paper, folio-size sheeters for paper and board, machines that produce ruled notebooks, and provides solutions for the industrial converting of digitally printed books.

Pemco offers complete packaging lines for cut-size, digital, and folio reams. SHM small converting Sheeters and Wrapmatic folio ream wrappers complete the range. Kugler-Womako (based in Nürtingen, Germany) supplies machinery for the stationery and bookbinding industries and is the world market leader in the production of machines for the manufacture of passports.

In addition to the enhanced sheeter presence made possible by the transaction, MarquipWardUnited continues to maintain its corrugator and finishing product lines that include corrugators, rotary die cutters, and flexo folder gluers, as well as its corrugated line products, flexo folder gluers (manufactured by Curioni in Milan, Italy), and VortX starch kitchens (manufactured in Milton, Pa., USA).

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