Saurer AG, the world’s second-biggest maker of spinning machines, sold its Ionbond coatings unit to Stirling Square Capital Partners as part of a plan to focus on its textiles operations.
The Ionbond unit, which sells coatings for tools and machine parts, has sales of about 50 million euros ($61 million) and 350 employees. It was sold for 110 million euros, Arbon, Switzerland- based Saurer said in an e-mailed statement.
Saurer said April 22 it expects profit to rise this year after demand in the natural fiber business boosted first-quarter orders 40 percent to 474 million euros.
Stirling Square Capital is a private equity fund, the Saurer statement said. Ionbond has factories in the U.S., Canada, Switzerland, the U.K., Singapore and Thailand, all of which will be kept open, Saurer said.
Editor: Collins
Story illustration: Click on {SAUN SW CNP 11281380112 } for a series of functions on Saurer’s share performance and earnings.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Warren Giles in Geneva(41)(22) 317 92 02 or wgiles@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor for this story:
Catherine Hickley at (49) (30) 72626 2812 or chickley@bloomberg.net
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-0- (BN ) Jun/01/2004 16:35 GMT