The Graham Machinery Group (1420 Sixth Avenue, York, PA 17405-1104 / USA) has acquired R. Stahl Blasformtechnik GmbH (Dieselstr. 26, D-70771 Leinfelden-Echterdingen) from its parent company, R. Stahl AG (D-74653 Künzelsau). Management and employees are to be retained. The business is best known under the trade name name of Hesta”. The sale marks R. Stahl´s exit from the plastics machinery sector. In 1998, its Hesta division accounted for only 4%, or EUR 8.7m, of the group´s overall sales.

The new company, to be known as Hesta Graham, will be based in Stuttgart and will oversee corporate activities in Europe, Asia and Africa. Graham Machinery´s new world head office in York will open in October 1999, along with new production facilities. Markets in North and South America will be served from there.

Both Graham Engineering and Hesta have built up a good reputation over the past 40 years, says Steve Wood, ceo of Graham Machinery. The product lines complement each other perfectly, and there is no overlap, he said. Graham´s range now takes in single and double stations, multi-cavity long-stroke machines, high-speed rotary table injection blow moulding machines and a complete family of accumulator-head blow moulding machines.

Ken Graham, chairman of Graham Machinery, sees this acquisition as a first step towards world leadership in blow moulding technology, a goal he said will be pursued “aggressively,” through further acquisitions, joint ventures and new product developments.