Japan’s Nissei Plastic Industrial Company has agreed to buy a majority stake in Negri Bossi, an Italian manufacturer of injection moulding machines and robotic equipment. The deal is expected to close in January 2020.

Negri Bossi, which is owned by US-based Kingsbury Corp, has a particularly strong presence in Europe and operates across a range of industries, including packaging. Revenues in recent years have been more than €100 million ($111m). Upon completion, Kingsbury will maintain a minority stake in the company.

Nissei Plastic operates in three segments: Japan (active in manufacture and sale of injection moulding machines), USA (sale of products), and Asia (affiliates in China and Thailand focused on manufacture and sales).

By acquiring a stake in Negri Bossi, Nissei will be able to expand and strengthen its business in the injection moulding machine field. Nissei will also utilise the R&D and sales capabilities of Negri Bossi to expand Nissei’s strengths in small and medium electric injection moulding machines.

“Negri Bossi is a well-established injection moulding machine manufacturer in Italy with more than 70 years of history,” said Mr Yoda, president and representative director of Nissei. “Consolidated sales of the Nissei group will hit approximately ¥50 billion ($459 million). In addition to the integration of production, sales and service, we will be able to achieve further growth through global marketing with robot companies.”

Craig Ward, general manager of Negri Bossi, added: “This new partnership will elevate us to the status as one of the top ten suppliers worldwide for the supply of plastics injection moulding machines. The strategic choice to purchase Negri Bossi was based on very strong potential synergies such as our strong geographical footprint in Europe and East coast of America compared to theirs of the Far East, Asia and west coast of America.