Fives, a Paris-based industrial engineering group has a definitive agreement to acquire MAG Americas from the MAG IAS LLC. The value of the sale is unknown, and the buyer noted the transaction awaits completion of “customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.”
The buyer has multiple product divisions, designing and manufacturing process equipment, production lines and turnkey plants for a range of industries, including aluminum, steel, glass, automotive, logistics, cement, and energy production. In 2012, Fives had sales of €1.5 billion ($1.95 billion) and over 6,500 employees worldwide.
A sale of all or part of MAG had been expected since last summer. Investment bank Goldman Sachs had been enlisted to locate a buyer and screen bids for the organization, as a whole or as separate units. Reportedly, initial bids were delivered in September 2012. Last summer and fall, various reports placed MAG in a sale to Sinomach, the China National Machinery Industry Corp. Other reports suggested a split of MAG’s North American and European operations for separate sales.
MAG IAS LLC was formed in 2005 and consolidated numerous machine tool brands, bringing together expertise in turning, milling, hobbing, grinding, and honing, with additional capabilities in system integration, composites processing, cryogenic machining, automation and software, and tooling, among others.
The MAG Americas unit includes the Giddings & Lewis, Cincinnat,i and Forest-Liné product lines, and about 100 patents. It has about 1,000 employees in the U.S., Canada, China, France, and South Korea.
MAG Americas reported 2012 sales of about $400 million, about two-thirds of which were earned in the U.S.
“This acquisition marks another step forward in the development of our Group,” according to Frédéric Sanchez, Fives chairman. “As a global supplier of superior and innovative technologies and products, MAG Americas perfectly matches Fives’ strategy to focus on high value-adding industries, such as aerospace.
“Through this combination, we are also reinforcing our exposure to a well-positioned North American industry and opening to new opportunities for development in emerging countries,” Sanchez continued.
