Acquisitions in Switzerland and Poland expand customer offering

Nolato has acquired two European companies, Treff in Switzerland and Grizzly Medical in Poland, expanding our customer offering and providing access to new markets.

“Acquisitions are an important part of our growth strategy, and we are continually working to boost shareholder value by identifying high-quality companies that complement our offering, hold solid market positions and have a high level of technical expertise, as well as a corporate culture that is a good fit with ours,” said Christer Wahlquist, President and CEO of Nolato.

“So we’re pleased to have completed the acquisition of these two companies, which will be a good match for Nolato, expand our customer offering and give us access to new markets in Europe.”

High level of technology

Treff, which is the larger of the companies, is based in Degersheim, a town in north-east Switzerland in the canton of St Gallen, around 30 kilometres from Lake Constance and the German border. The company has around 190 employees and is focused on high-tech development and production of plastic products for medical technology and industrial customers.

“It’s a great company with good management and a good organisational structure,” said Johan Arvidsson, President of Nolato Industrial. “It’s well managed and well invested, with a high level of technology and strong skills in high-volume production, assembly and advanced automation.”

The company has been family-owned since it started in 1946 and is a good fit with our corporate culture. The current management will remain with the company.

Treff manufacturers supply products for medical and self-care diagnostics (in-vitro diagnostics, IVD), as well as technically advanced precision components for various industrial segments. The company’s sales for 2016 are estimated at just over SEK 450 million.

“The acquisition gives us a presence in the German-speaking part of Europe. It will open doors to a large group of new and internationally leading customers, particularly within medical technology,” said Nolato President and CEO Christer Wahlquist. A number of these are already customers of Treff.

Within the Nolato Group the company will be called Nolato Treff. Around two-thirds of the business will be reported within Nolato Industrial, and one-third within Nolato Medical.

Assembly and post-processing

Grizzly Medical is involved in the assembly, post-processing and quality assurance of medical device components. The company, which has annual sales of around SEK 25 million and good profitability, has been a supplier to and partner of Nolato Medical for many years. The factory is located in Stargard in north-west Poland, two hour’s drive from Berlin.

“This is a relatively small but strategically important acquisition that boosts our capacity in the low-volume, clean room-based production segment, including assembly and post-processing,” said Johan Iveberg, President of Nolato Medical. “We are seeing growing demand for complex products and systems that require manual or semi-automated processing.”

Short production runs

Grizzly Medical, which in the Nolato Group will be called Nolato Stargard, has around 90 employees. The company was established in 1996 and has provided manual and semi-manual processing for Nolato for almost 20 years.

“Stargard is logistically a good location for our Swedish operations as it’s only around 100 kilometres from the ferries between Ystad and Poland,” said Johan Iveberg. “The acquisition gives us even better opportunities to compete on short production runs with high value added.”

Grizzly Medical, som har döpts om till Nolato Stargard, arbetar bland annat med montage och vidareförädling av medicintekniska komponenter.

Acquisitions in Switzerland and Poland expand customer offering

High level of technology

Assembly and post-processing

Short production runs

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