In response to “the increasingly severe environment surrounding the injection moulding machine business both in Japan and abroad,” Ube Industries’ (Tokyo / Japan; www.ube.com) subsidiary Ube Machinery (Ube / Japan; www.ubemachinery.co.jp) has acquired an 85% majority stake in Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Plastic Technology. Financial details of the transaction, which is expected to be completed by 1 January 2017, pending all approvals, were not disclosed.

The transaction will include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Plastic Technology’s sales subsidiaries in North America, Thailand and China, while all other global offices will remain under the control of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI, Nagoya / Japan; www.mhi.co.jp). Once all is said and done, Ube Machinery intends to set up a new company under its control that will handle all combined injection moulding machinery sales.

While Ube specialises in larger, mostly hydraulic machines with clamping forces of up to 63,000 kN, MHI’s focus is on the mid- to large-scale segment, starting at 3,500 kN, with a specialisation in electric machinery. With more than 1,000 employees, Ube Machinery is the larger of the two parties, although it has to be said that its portfolio also includes extrusion presses, dryers, steel structures and die casting machines. MHI Plastic Technology’s 145 employees, by contrast, focus mostly on injection moulding technology.