Rieter acquires Saurer’s 3 businesses for EUR 300 mn

Winterthur
(Switzerland)

 

Switzerland-based
Rieter Holding Ltd and Shanghai (China) listed Saurer Intelligent Technology
Co. Ltd have signed an agreement by which Rieter will acquire three businesses
from Saurer Netherlands Machinery Company B.V. (Amsterdam/Netherlands), the
parent company of Saurer Spinning Solutions GmbH & Co. KG, Uebach-Palenberg/Germany
and Saurer Technologies GmbH & Co. KG (Krefeld/Germany).

 

With
this acquisition, Rieter will complete the offering of ring- and compact
spinning systems by acquiring the Schlafhorst automatic winder business.
Additionally, Rieter invests in two attractive component businesses: Accotex
(elastomer components for spinning machines) and Temco (bearing solutions for
filament machines).

 

In
total, the three businesses had a combined turnover of EUR 142 million in 2020,
the year of the COVID crisis. In 2019 and 2018, the total combined turnover was
at a level of EUR 235 million and EUR 260 million, respectively.

 

The
purchase price for the three businesses is EUR 300 million on a cash and debt
free basis. Rieter has financed the purchase price by cash and available credit
lines.

 

Rieter
and Saurer expect to close the transaction during the month of August. In the
first step of the transaction, Rieter will acquire 57% of the shares of Saurer
Netherlands. The shares will be returned to Saurer after the implementation of
the transaction in six to nine months.

 

In
connection with the transaction, it is envisaged that Rieter will supply
automatic winders to Saurer in the future.

 

Changes
in the Rieter Board of Directors

 

During
the course of this transaction, it came to serious violations of the statutory
duty of loyalty, the obligation to maintain business secrets and the Rieter
Code of Conduct by the two members of the Board of Directors Luc Tack and
Stefaan Haspeslagh. They have used information internal to the Board of
Directors in order to compete with Rieter through their own offer.

 

The
Board of Directors considers this to be a strong violation of Rieter’s
interests, to the detriment of all of its stakeholders, and a sustained breach
of the relationship of trust within the Board of Directors which makes further
cooperation impossible.

 

Therefore,
the Board of Directors of Rieter Holding Ltd intends to convene an
Extraordinary General Meeting at which its members, Luc Tack and Stefaan
Haspeslagh, are to be dismissed.

 

To
protect Rieter’s interests, the Board of Directors will file a criminal
complaint against the two members of the Board of Directors.

 

The
date of the Extraordinary General Meeting will be announced at the appropriate
time.

 

Rieter
is the world’s leading supplier of systems for short-staple fiber spinning.
Based in Winterthur (Switzerland), the company develops and manufactures
machinery, systems and components used to convert natural and manmade fibres
and their blends into yarns. Rieter is the only supplier worldwide to cover
both spinning preparation processes and all four end spinning processes
currently established on the market. Furthermore, Rieter is a leader in the
field of precision winding machines. With 15 manufacturing locations in ten
countries, the company employs a global workforce of some 4 390, about 20% of
whom are based in Switzerland.