Germany: Huppmann Group is taken over by GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft

GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft is strengthening the brewery business unit of its Process Engineering Division by taking over the Huppmann Group. Huppmann is a global supplier to the brewery industry and the market's leading brewhouse specialist.

The transaction is still subject to approval by the antitrust authorities. Huppmann, based in Kitzingen near W�rzburg, has generated annual sales in the range of 60 million Euros. The GEA Group will now be able to provide the international brewing industry with the complete process engineering in both the hot and the cold process area.

"The acquisition of Huppmann is a strategically important step in the growing beer market, which is experiencing high growth rates, particularly in the emerging countries. Now we are able to supply the entire range of process engineering applications in breweries", said Peter Schenk, member of the Executive Board of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

Huppmann was founded in 1874 and has been operating in the international brewery market for decades already. Thanks to consistently market-oriented research and development, Huppmann could always present optimized processes and systems for brewhouse technology and energy management, with a positive impact on process costs, flexibility, product quality and environmental protection in breweries. The practical cooperation in large projects like "Sevilla", "Grolsch" or "Warka" has already shown that the Huppmann profile fits very well into the GEA Division.