The German Federal Cartel Office has blocked Heidelberg’s planned takeover of the MBO Group.
In New Zealand and Australia, Print and Pack continues to supply and support MBO and other finishing solutions sucj as Herzog + Heyman, Kolbus, Wohlenberg, Palamides, Osako and Morgana.
Rainer Hundsdörfer, chief executive at Heidelberg, says, “We take note of the decision with regret and we are moving on, even though we see the future market position of the combined company’s differently.”The two companies remain convinced that integrating the offerings of MBO would have given customers added benefits in terms of smooth industrial processes in the digital future.
Following the ruling, Heidelberg and MBO will continue to run their businesses separately and independently as before. Heidelberg had publicly announced its intention to take over the MBO Group and concluded an agreement with the owning family back in October 2018.
Even though the takeover of the MBO Group will not proceed, Heidelberg will continue to pursue its strategy of further developing its postpress portfolio in the direction of industrial scale postpress operations. This includes the positioning of the Stahlfolder TH / KH series folding machines, especially the P-class.Heidelberg has also invested in a new way of improving transparency in postpress production control for all products. In parallel to this, the company continues to align new business models with the growth segments of digital and packaging, tapping into new customer groups for its entire product range but in particular, it applies to the segments of digital postpress and postpress for folding cartons and the associated inserts and outserts used in the pharmaceutical sector.
The company continues its collaboration with the Chinese postpress specialist Masterwork Group, which expanded with a capital measure in March. With it, Heidelberg wants to open up further potential on the growing packaging market.
