H2 Equity Partners is pleased to announce that, subject to further advice and approvals, it has agreed to acquire Contiweb from American Industrial Partners, the New York-based private equity firm. Contiweb is the global market leader in the manufacturing of auxiliary equipment for offset printing. Also, Contiweb provides aftermarket sales and services for a large number of installed, proprietary machines across a global customer base of commercial printers.
Contiweb has a proud history of developing innovative equipment, since its inception in 1978. Its traditional core business has been the development and manufacturing of splicers and dryers incorporating superior technology for offset printing lines. Contiweb has a global installed base of over 3,000 machines, for which it provides aftermarket sales and services. More recently, Contiweb started manufacturing equipment for the digital printing market and for the flexible packaging and label printing market as an OEM with its differentiating Thallo press. Until August 2018, Contiweb was a subsidiary of Goss International; since then it has been operating independently. With nearly 200 employees, Contiweb generated EUR 52 million in sales last year.
H2 Managing Partner, Gert Jan van der Hoeven, commented: “We are impressed by the depth of the engineering capabilities, the culture of innovation and the customer-centric ethos that we have seen at Contiweb. We see many attractive growth opportunities for Contiweb and we look forward to working with Contiweb’s management and wider organization to realize its full potential. We are also very pleased that the acquisition of Contiweb marks the first investment of our most recent fund.”
AIP partner, Richard Hoffman, commented: “AIP is proud of the accomplishments of the Contiweb management team and employee base. We have greatly enjoyed our partnership with them since 2015 and are enthusiastic for Contiweb’s continued innovation and growth under H2 ownership.”
Contiweb CEO, Rutger Jansen, commented: “We are thankful to AIP for the support we have received over the years and for its conviction in making Contiweb a successful independent company. We are pleased to continue in that vein, as an independent company, and will remain focused on developing and manufacturing excellent equipment and services for our customers around the globe. In the last few months we have come to know H2 and have confidence in a strong cooperation evolving from their technical and strategic orientation and their successful track record in similar situations.”
About H2 Equity Partners
H2 Equity Partners, founded in 1991, is an independent investment firm. H2 focuses on medium sized companies that are uniquely positioned and provide significant growth potential. H2 offers these businesses a combination of capital and active management support to realize untapped potential. H2 has a robust, multi-sector track record in building stronger companies, with a sustainable competitive advantage and profitable growth. The investment by H2’s Amsterdam team are funded through its most recent fund, which was launched in June 2019.
