Oerlikon acquires Truetzschler staple fibre portfolio

Oerlikon announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire the entire staple fibres technology portfolio of Trützschler Nonwovens & Man-Made Fibers GmbH, Egelsbach, Germany. This company is part of the German Truetzschler Group, which is a specialist in fibre preparation for the yarn spinning and nonwovens industries. The acquisition expands the Manmade Fibers Segment’s technology portfolio and opens up access to new customers in the market for synthetic staple fibres.

Oerlikon is strengthening its technology and market position in its core business areas by taking advantage of the ongoing consolidation in the chemical fibres market, which was triggered by market downturn in China. With the acquisition of the former Fleissner staple fibres technology portfolio and the intellectual property (IP) of Trützschler Nonwovens & Man-Made Fibers GmbH, the segment becomes the leading technology and equipment provider in the global staple fibres market. The acquisition expands the Manmade Fibers Segment’s staple fibres technology expertise and broadens the segment’s customer base and service business in the respective areas. As staple fibres projects are increasingly tied to continuous polycondensation facilities, already now the Manmade Fibers Segment is well positioned to operate as a provider of complete solutions. Both parties have agreed not to disclose details of the transaction. Truetzschler Group is discontinuing its staple fibre business as it has decided to focus on its core business activities.

Dr Roland Fischer, CEO of Oerlikon Group, said: “The acquisition of the staple fibres technology portfolio of Truetzschler is another important step in line with our strategy to strengthen our position outside the filament business, where we occupy a leading technology and market position. The ongoing consolidation in chemical fibres market presents interesting opportunities and we are taking this step to ensure that the Manmade Fibers Segment will merge stronger from the current market weakness and profit from the positive long-term market perspectives.”

“With this restructuring in Egelsbach we will focus our capacities and competencies on the key topics of our nonwovens’ customers. It will shorten the time to market of our innovative solutions and will further strengthen our worldwide service” said Dr Georg Reinhold, MD and CEO of Truetzschler Nonwovens & Man-Made Fibers GmbH.

Truetzschler Nonwovens will focus only on its two other businesses, i.e. nonwovens machinery and filament lines. Staple fibres technology is one of the core technologies within the manmade fibres industry. In 2015, the produced staple fibres amounted to 18.5 million tonne, or some 33 per cent of the total synthetic fibres capacity. Synthetic staple fibres are produced by the main conversion steps: polymer production, spinning further down to baling.

Georg Stausberg, CEO of Oerlikon’s Manmade Fibers Segment, commented: “The former Fleissner staple fibres technology portfolio of Trützschler Nonwovens & Man-Made Fibers GmbH is an ideal fit for our business. It enhances our existing technology offering and broadens our service business. Furthermore, it opens up attractive business opportunities with key customers in that field. Combining the staple fibres process solutions and key components of both companies will enable us to increase customer value through developing further innovations. In addition, we will be able to offer the entire range of customer services for all installed machines and plants of the former Fleissner staple fibres technologies.”