Austria-based Andritz AG and Germany-based Jagenberg AG, which took complete ownership of the
shares of Eduard Küsters Maschinenfabrik Gmbh & Co. KG in August 2005, have created Küsters
Technologie GmbH & Co. KG — a joint venture in Küsters’ paper and nonwovens industries. The new
enterprise will employ approximately 500 employees and have an annual turnover of 70 million to 80
million euros, the companies reported.
Jens Kellersmann, public relations representative for Eduard Küsters, said the joint venture
would be renamed Andritz Küsters GmbH & Co. KG following an antitrust evaluation. The companies
expect that evaluation to be completed by the end of March, according to Kellersmann.
As part of the change, Andritz gains majority share of the venture — 60 percent — and
industrial leadership of the new Krefeld-based business, which includes the Spartanburg-based
subsidiary Küsters Paper Machinery Corp. Jagenberg owns the remaining 40 percent of the new
business and maintains complete ownership of of Zittau-based Küsters Textile GmbH, formerly named
Küsters Zittauer Maschinenfabrik.
According to the companies, the joint venture clearly separates Küsters’ three industry
areas.
The wet-finishing textile machinery business, which was restructured before the latest
changes, operates exclusively out of Küsters Textile. Additionally, Küsters Textile’s Zittau site
is the only location for the group’s textile business, as the Krefeld textile site was closed in
December 2005. Küsters Textile also directs the company’s textile subsidiaries in India, China and
the United States.
Küsters Technologie in Krefeld, on the other hand, produces products for the nonwovens and
paper industries, including nonwoven and textile calenders and nonwoven wet finishing; and paper
roll technology, calenders, and press modules and sections.
“We follow the primary aim of creating industrial framework conditions for the individual
Küsters business fields which best support their successful continued existence,” said Erich W.
Bröker, CEO, Küsters. “Whereas, in view of intensifying global competition, a certain painful
restructuring step was unavoidable. The tie-up with Andritz opens up a markedly broadened market
access ….”
February 21, 2006
