IMA Industria Macchine Automatiche will be acquiring 80% interest in five companies - Benhil, Erca, Gasti, Hamba and Hassia - which currently form the Oystar Group.
The newly formed company will function under the name IMA Dairy&Food Holding GmbH.
The Oystar Group specialises in manufacturing packaging machines, with the operating business of the group currently owned by private equity firm Odewald.
While IMA will own 80% of the shares, 20% will be owned by Odewald. For the 20% of Odewald's shares, put and call options have been agreed upon that will be exercised in the years 2017 and 2018.
The company currently employs 850 employees and is expected to have consolidated revenues of approximately €185m and an EBITDA of around €15m in fiscal year 2015.
IMA Group chairman and CEO Alberto Vacchi said: "With this acquisition, the IMA Group is taking another important step towards the future. The product range of the companies being acquired is complementary to our presence in the food industry and positions us, worldwide, among the most important group leaders in food packaging.
"The combination of Italian and German excellence, internationally recognized as the leading edge in this field of technology, opens up new and interesting prospects for the IMA Group. Italian creativity and design, in a framework of production flexibility, combined with solid German technical expertise, undoubtedly result in creating a unique and successful mix for our key markets, generating a model for combining already competitive industrial expertise in different parts of the Europe."
The target group was acquired by Odewald in March 2007 which then implemented a strategic realignment in 2009 and 2010 which helped the company attain sustainable and profitable growth.
Odelwald partner Torsten Krumm said: "Over the past years, Oystar Group's development has been excellent and the company has significantly expanded its position as global technology leader in the market for packaging solutions for the dairy and food industry. We are proud to have contributed to this development and put an excellently positioned company in good hands. We will continue to support the companies' development in our role as minority shareholder."
