H2 Equity Partners acquires Contiweb

H2 Equity Partners has announced 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's new press Thallo

Contiweb is a manufacturer of auxiliary equipment for offset printing for global markets as well as aftermarket sales and service provider for over 3,000 of its machines installed across a global customer base of commercial printers.

The company, founded in 1978, has a history of developing equipment with its core business being the development and manufacturing of splicers and dryers for offset printing lines. 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 Thallo press.

Until August 2018, Contiweb had been a subsidiary of Goss International; since then it has been operating independently. With nearly 200 employees, Contiweb generated 52m EUR (57.8m USD) in sales last year.

‘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 the company, and we look forward to working with Contiweb’s management and the wider organization to realize its full potential. We are also very pleased that the acquisition marks the first investment of our most recent fund,’ said Gert Jan van der Hoeven, H2 Managing Partner.

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, added: ‘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.