Injection moulding machinery manufacturer Negri Bossi (Milan / Italy; www.negribossi.com) might find a new permanent home under the umbrella of its former competitor Nissei Plastic Industrial (Nagano / Japan; www.nisseijushi.co.jp). Kingsbury Corp, who owned the company since 2014 (see Plasteurope.com of 16.04.2014), initially has sold 75% of Negri Bossi to the Japanese company, but the remaining quarter is also to be sold to Nissei “within a few years.” The purchase price was not disclosed. Both parties aim to complete the first part of the transaction at the beginning of 2020.

Nissei is thus significantly expanding its previously weak presence in Europe and also gets access to the Russian and Indian markets, where Negri Bossi so far has had good success. In addition, the Japanese firm is acquiring the large scale “Bi-Power” machines for its portfolio. In return, the Italian company could benefit from Nissei’s distribution reach in other regions of Asia and in the US.

The new owner is apparently planning to integrate its Italian acquisition to a large extent – among other things, parts that were purchased previously will be produced by Nissei in future. Italian design with Japanese technology, so to speak. It currently looks as if the parallel existing sales structures might be the first to be bled. However, Nissei is planning an “aggressive worldwide expansion”, which probably entails an extension of production.

For Negri Bossi, the general downturn in 2018 has only accelerated a noticeable downtrend. Revenues fell from EUR 108m in 2016 to EUR 105m and finally to EUR 94.5m last year. The group’s operating result slumped even more, falling from EUR 3.7m in 2016 to last a minus of EUR 345,000. All in all, 2017 results had already been in the red, and CEO Craig Ward had to report a loss of EUR 1.8m in 2018. In view of the economic situation, Nissei evidently is not venturing an outlook for the current fiscal year.

Negri Bossi employs around 350 people at its two Italian plants in Cologno and Imola, as well as in Ahmedabad / India and at various sales offices. It also owns Roboline-Sytrama (Milan / Italy; www.roboline.it), a manufacturer of robots for injection moulding machines.

Nissei is significantly larger, with a turnover of more than EUR 365m – of which three quarters are from manufacturing injection moulding machines. The company has around 1,000 employees worldwide and supplies about 3,500 machines per year from its four plants in Japan (2), China and Thailand. Most products are delivered to the Chinese market. Alongside its competitors Fanuc, Sumitomo, JSW and Toyo, Nissei is one of the five major Japanese injection moulding machinery manufacturers.