Private equity group Madison Capital Partners (Chicago, Illinois / USA; www.madisoncapitalpartners.net) has completed its acquisition of the world´s largest machinery manufacturing group, Mannesmann Plastics Machinery (MPM, Munich / Germany; www.mpm-group.com) – see Plasteurope.com Web of 01.06.2006. This places injection moulding machinery manufacturers Demag Plastics Group, Krauss-Maffei Kunststofftechik and Netstal and extruder manufacturer Berstorff – along with their trademarks – under the roof of the US holding, which also has acquired such well-known plastics industry names as John Brown, Epco, Ilpea, Holms and Dynisco.

The transaction was initiated and managed by transatlantic M&A specialist Goldsmith Agio Helms (www.agio.com), which received effusive praise from the private equity group. "We have had discussions with five separate manufacturers of injection moulding machinery since 1994; however, in each case, Madison was not satisfied with the depth and breadth of people, technology and products," said Madison president and CEO Larry Gies. MPM is "the greatest plastic machinery manufacturer in the world," declared Gies, who also termed the Munich group, with annual sales of EUR 13 bn, a "perfect match" for Madison and an "ideal acquisition target."

Apparently, not all of MPM´s senior management is a perfect match for Madison. Only a few days after the signing of the takeover agreement, the machinery group´s chief executive, Pepyn Dinandt, stepped down. New CEO is MCP director Richard C. Osborne. Previous MPM executives Holger Engelmann, Henning Scheele and Otto Urbanek complete the new top management team.