German giant acquires Nu Con

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German food technology company GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft says it has bought New Zealand company Nu-Con - a global supplier of equipment to handle raw bulk materials.

Auckland-based Nu-Con has 167 employees, and generated revenues of €27 million ($45.9 million) in the year to March 2011.

Its powder handling systems are especially used for infant formula, milkpowders, and other food processing as well as in various industrial applications.

GEA Group said the New Zealand company would be integrated into its process engineering segment, though the deal is yet to be approved by the Commerce Commission. GEA recently acquired Fonterra as a customer according to documents filed with the commission.

The German group said the main competitors for the supply of dairy handling equipment in New Zealand included a multi-national Tetra Pak, Hamilton-based Powder Projects - "very close to the market, in particular Fonterra" - un-named Chinese suppliers, and Techno Links NZ, in Auckland, which marketed DMN Westinghouse equipment.

It predicted GEA would continue to face competition from Tetra Pak and Powder Projects but the big issue in terms of dairy-handling equipment would be which company wins the drier orders from major customers such as Fonterra, Synlait, Open Country and Westland.

The top customers for GEA and Nu-Con were currently Fonterra rivals Westland Co-operative Dairy Company, Open Country Dairy, and Talley's Group.

GEA Group had revenues of more than €4.4 billion in 2010, 70 per cent of which came from the food and energy sectors, and employed about 23,000 people.

-NZPA