By Bill Bregar
SENIOR STAFF REPORTER
Published: July 18, 2013 12:22 pm ET

Nordson Corp. is continuing its acquisition spree into plastics-related equipment and components.
The Westlake, Ohio-based company announced July 18 that it will buy two sister companies in Germany — Kreyenborg GmbH, a maker of screen changers and melt filters, and pelletizer manufacturer BKG Bruckmann & Kreyenborg Granuliertechnik GmbH.
Both companies are part of the Kreyenborg Group in Münster, Germany. Nordson announced July 18 that it signed a definitive agreement to buy the companies. According to Kreyenborg, the sellers are managing directors Jan-Udo Kreyenborg and Theodor Bruckmann, who have retired from the management of these companies.
Jan Hendrik Ostgathe and Ralf Simon, who had been working for the companies as top executives, will also handle management after the change of ownership. Kreyenborg informed the 270 employees of the two Germany operations about the sale earlier in the day, before the public announcement.
Revenues for the Kreyenborg and BKG were about 62 million euros ($80 million) in 2012, according to Nordson.
In a financial filing, the Nasdaq-traded Nordson said it is paying 135 million euros ($175 million) for the companies. The deal is scheduled to close in the fourth quarter of Nordson's fiscal year, which ends Oct. 31.
The two new German businesses will operate as part of Nordson's Adhesive Dispensing Systems segment.
Nordson is a $1.4 billion manufacturer of equipment for adhesive dispensing, industrial coating and semiconductor technologies.
The Kreyenborg deal brings Nordson new capacity to make pelletizers, used to make resin pellets in compounding, recycling and related processes. Also, the acquisition broadens Nordson's existing offerings of screen changers, pumps and valves for extrusion of plastics.
Nordson officials are building a plastics platform, through last year's acquisition of Xaloy Inc. the maker of screws and barrels, and flat die maker Extrusion Dies Industries. In 2011, the company bought the Verbruggen flat die business in Belgium, and Value Plastics Inc., a Colorado molder of medical fittings.
"These [Kreyenborg] businesses are highly complementary to our other recent acquisitions in the polymer processing space and fit our strategy of providing our customers with high-value, mission-critical melt stream components that will enhance the performance of their systems," Nordson President and CEO Michael Hilton said in a prepared statement.
The businesses will strengthen Nordson's relationships with key European customers and expand the product offering, he said.
Kreyenborg said production facilities of the two companies in Münster have been leased to Nordson for an initial 10-year term.
The deal does not include three other businesses of Kreyenborg Group: KPT Kreyenborg Plant Technology GmbH & Co. KG, BLS Integration GmbH & Co. KG and BSG Bruckmann Control GmbH. Management and ownership of those units, which employ 110 people, will remain unchanged.