Gallus owner Ferdinand Rüesch cashes in its remaining shares in the Swiss label and folding carton suppier for an anchor stake with Heidelberg. In a landmark trade-off, Heidelberg picks up 100% ownership of Gallus while the share swap deal leaves Ferdinand Rüesch as its single largest shareholder, controlling 9% of the German press giant.
The deal sees the Ferdinand Rüesch hand off its remaining 70% stake in Gallus Holding AG for up to 23 million new shares in Heidelberg valued at a minimum of €2.70 each, as well as a cash payment of no more than €10 million. The buy-out ties up Heidelberg's total control of the previously family-owned Swiss press manufacturer, having acquired a 30% share in the business in 1999. The restructure is expected to be complete by July, subject to all relevant approvals.
In exchange, Ferd. Rüesch AG emerges with a whopping 9% stake in the German offset company, which it undertakes to hold until July 31, 2015. The share reshuffle follows earlier announcement of significant ongoing consolidation and backs up Heidelberg's strengthening its capital structure. According to Gerold Linzbach (pictured), Heidelberg CEO, the press giant is proud to have won the support of the Swiss brand as its new strategic anchor investor, and hopes to leverage it to open up new markets.
"The full acquisition of Gallus will further enhance the cooperation of the two companies. Together, we will continue to foster the development in the growing market for digital label production," said Linzbach.
Heidelberg and Gallus are developing a portfolio of digital products for the labels sectors, commercial and packaging printing, utilising industrialised inkjet technology from Fujifilm. A Heidelberg inkjet label press based on the Gallus ECS340 platform will debut later this year, delivering 1200x1200 dpi, with inline finishing and embellishment. A B1 sheet-fed, still in development, will follow.
Headquartered in Switzerland Gallus had a group turnover of CHF 188 million, and employs around 500 staff worldwide.