After some delay, Brazil’s Industrias Romi (Santa Barbara d'Oeste; www.romi.com.br) has completed its acquisition of Italian injection moulding machinery manufacturer Sandretto (Collegno; www.sandretto.it) for EUR 5.5m in cash. The Brazilian group said it will invest EUR 13.5m up front, including the EUR 8m capital spending agreed with Italian insolvency administration authorities for the next two years – see Plasteurope.com of 08.07.2008, 20.06.2008 and 27.05.2008 – and the takeover of Sandretto’s raw materials inventory, work in progress and finished products.

The acquisition of the Italian company will enable Romi to expand its position in the plastics processing machinery sector, both in Brazil and international markets,” said its president, Livaldo Aguiar dos Santos. In Italy, it is picking up two manufacturing plants, at Gugliasco and Pont Canavese, and is also acquiring all equity of the four wholly-owned Sandretto subsidiaries in the UK, Spain, France and The Netherlands. Some 245 Sandretto employees are to be taken on.

Romi said its strategic objectives in making the European acquisition were to broaden its own distribution base, establish a technological centre in a region with ”recognised know how” in the machinery sector and expand its global supplier development policy. Sandretto has been in state administration since becoming insolvent in early 2006 for the second time in just over 10 years.