Kai Büntemeyer, co-owner and managing director of Kolbus
Kolbus Group has acquired all shares in Autobox Machinery, for an undisclosed price.
Autobox Group, with its main operating company British Converting Solutions (BCS) based in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, UK, is a leading manufacturer of corrugated box making, printing and gluing machines. BCS-Autobox develops cutting edge technology for the specialist short run box market, with more than 80% of production exported.
For Kolbus, this acquisition completes the group’s re-orientation from industrial bookbinding systems towards manufacturing equipment for specialist, paper-based rigid packaging.
Former majority owning shareholder Barry Tabor will continue to lead the company as managing director.
Kai Büntemeyer, co-owner and managing director of Kolbus, said, ‘BCS-Autobox is a perfect match for us. It fits perfectly between the our highly specialised grey-board packaging technology and the rotary die-cutters made by our American Hycorr division. We expect it to become our fastest-growing segment and our footprint in the UK is set to continue to expand after this acquisition.’
Mr Tabor commented, ‘The acquisition of the business provides an exciting opportunity for BCS-Autobox to realise its full potential on a truly worldwide basis. Being part of the Kolbus Group gives us access to its International Sales and Service network. The group’s manufacturing capabilities in Rahden, Germany will also significantly increase our production capacity and provide additional design and engineering resources.’
