CPS Color and Corob to join forces

CPS Color, a leading supplier of advanced tinting systems, and Corob, a leading manufacturer of automatic tinting equipment, will combine their operations. The new entity will be a leading provider of postponed colour production systems, with an improved customer offering.

CPS Color Group Oy acquires Corob Group from Swisslog AG which is increasingly concentrating on its core business – logistical systems. The agreement between CPS Color and Swisslog was signed on 5th November 2002. The transaction is subject to inter alia regulatory approvals. The new combined company will continue to use the two existing brands, CPS Color and Corob.

“From a strategic point of view, the combination is very logical. Market drivers and key success factors are similar for both companies,” says Jyrki Perttunen, Chief Executive Officer of CPS Color. “A closer integration will create new business opportunities as well as strengthen our customer service offering. We will provide our customers with competitive colourant systems and tinting machines as well as total tinting solutions”, he continues.

The new company will invest in joint development of next generation colourants and tinting equipment and intends to expand into new markets beyond the paint industry. Combining the two businesses also creates the opportunity to take over larger responsibilities in the management and development of paint companies’ tinting concepts and the service of customer’s tinting machines.

The two companies have many years’ experience of close cooperation with each other. CPS Color and Corob were part of the same group before Corob was acquired by Swisslog and CPS Color by the European private equity firm Industri Kapital (via the Industri Kapital 2000 Fund).

“The combination of CPS Color and Corob is well in line with Industri Kapital’s aim of value creation through operating approach in its investments and we believe that it will further enhance the value offered to the customers of CPS Color," says Michael Rosenlew, Director of Industri Kapital, CPS Color’s main shareholder.

Reader enquiries

CPS Color
Nusterweg 98
PO Box 809
NL-6130 AV Sittard
Netherlands
+31 46 4570 100
info@​cpscolor.com
www.cpscolor.com

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Notes for editors

For further information please contact

Jyrki Perttunen, CEO

Tel. +358 9 8577 5500, jyrki.perttunen@cpscolor.com

Daphne Beek, Communications Manager

Tel. +31 (0)46 457 0100, daphne.beek@cpscolor.com

Umberto Marazzi, CEO

Tel. +39 0535 66 32 66, umberto.marazzi@corob.com

CPS Color is a leading supplier of advanced tinting systems. It offers all the components of a complete tinting system: colourants, dispensing and mixing equipment, technical support, software, colour communication aids and consultancy. CPS Color actively pursues opportunities to expand the potential of tinting systems into new markets and new applications. Its tinting systems are sold to paint, leather and plastic manufacturers worldwide. CPS Color is controlled by the Industri Kapital 2000 Fund.

Key figures: sales €110 m (estimate 2002), 315 employees

Internet: http://www.cpscolor.com

Corob is a global supplier of automatic tinting machines. Its product offering covers dispensers, mixers and shakers, spectrophotometers, software and spare parts. Corob is a leading company in the higher end of tinting machines.

Corob strives to bring automatic dispensers and related equipment all around the world through customised solutions, packaged in function of the different markets’ needs.

Key figures: sales €60 m (estimate 2002), 380 employees

Internet: http://www.corob.com

CPS Color and Corob Group operate in the tinting systems market with a focus on postponed production of colour. The latter means that colour and the quality of different materials is customised as close to the end user as it is economical by using standard components. The main market for tinting systems is today the decorative paint sector, but the industrial coatings sector and special industries (plastic, leather, ceramics, etc.) represent future growth opportunities with slightly differing value proposition. Demand for tinting systems has increased and most market observers believe that the growth in demand will continue in the future due to the both differentiation requirements as well as the need for profit generation among paint manufactures. Paints are estimated to grow at par with GDP, whereas tinting is estimated to grow 2-4 percentage points above GDP with certain geographies and segments experiencing significantly higher growth.