Iceland-headquartered Marel will acquire German food processing equipment manufacturer MAJA in a deal expected to be finalised in the third quarter of 2018.
The acquisition of MAJA, which had revenues of approximately €30m in 2017, is in line with Marel’s strategic objective to be a full-line supplier of advanced food processing solutions and standard equipment. Marel aims to utilise the innovation and manufacturing site owned by MAJA, whose management team will remain onboard.
Arni Oddur Thordarson, CEO of Marel, which had revenues of €1,038m in 2017, said: “MAJA’s innovative product range is a good fit to Marel and we have great respect for the technical capabilities their dedicated team has built up over the years.
“We know each other well as MAJA and Sulmaq, Marel’s subsidiary in Brazil, have been partners for years in Latin America. By joining forces and further building on MAJA’s product offering and regional presence, we continue to increase scale to better serve customer needs and drive innovation.”
Expanding specialisations
Joachim Schill & Reinhard Schill, owners and managing directors of MAJA, stated: “Together we will play an even more important role in the international markets for skinning/derinding, portion control slicing and ice making solutions.
“For us it´s a strategic and suitable succession solution, being a part of a larger organisation also means that our employees will benefit from even more career opportunities”
Marel invests around 6% of revenues in research and development annually, which translated into approximately €60m in 2017. Marel’s full-line approach includes standalone equipment, individual systems and full production lines all controlled and integrated with Innova, Marel’s overarching software solution.
