Drent Goebel acquires RDP Marathon.

Drent Goebel has acquired Canada’s RDP Marathon. This follows
the merger of Drent and Goebel in 2001 and the acquisition of Giebeler in 2003, and is expected to strengthen Drent Goebel’s position in the US and Canadian markets.
RDP’s principal market is in the long run commercial printing market. RDP builds the V-series blanket to steel and the P-series blanket to blanket machines for this market. These presses with web widths up to 965 mm (38-inch) will fit into Drent Goebel’s portfolio.
Rob Teunissen, C.E.O. of Drent Goebel, says the success of Drent Goebel’s Variable Sleeve Offset Printing (VSOP) press in the North-American market makes the acquisition a logical step logical. ‘We already had our own service and sales organization in Chicago. Looking at the potential of the VSOP in the North-American market, this acquisition was the best possible way to strengthen our organization. RDP Marathon is the perfect partner for this, having not only a particularly good reputation in the market, but also outstanding presses with a large installed base and a fully tooled-up sales, service and manufacturing organization.’
Eric Short, President of RDP Marathon, commented: ‘What we are going to achieve is synergy between the two companies. I know that it is a much abused word, but it states exactly the strength of our collaboration. Both companies have their roots in designing and building durable and innovative presses. Drent Goebel is strong in Europe and in up-and-coming markets such as Asia. We serve Canada and the United States with our sales and service. A perfect match.’
RDP Marathon has its own engineering department and will also be assembling VSOP presses destined for the North-American market. Sales for the North American market are managed from Montreal by Eric Short. Service for Drent Goebel presses will be coordinated out of the Chicago office. RDP will keep its own service coordination.
The coming months will be used to optimize the synergy of the two organizations.