Piab acquires French Coval

As you know, I always tend to speculate: Coval may also have talked to Schmalz. Either the price didn't fit or Schmalz was holding back in view of its recent acquisitions, so my guess. Schmalz had acquired the Swedish Binar Handling AB, which was about twice the size of Coval, exactly one year ago. Such an acquisition needs to be integrated first. In addition, a smaller market player had been acquired.

COVAL (135 employees, 21 million sales) has decided to join the Piab Group. Piab , based in Sweden, has sales of 221 million euros and around 1,000 employees. COVAL is a leading global manufacturer of components and systems for vacuum automation. With a history of more than 35 years, COVAL brings to the Piab Group a solid portfolio of quality products, highly skilled and experienced employees, a strong brand that stands for the highest quality standards, and numerous new customers. Through the acquisition, the Piab Group further develops automation and strengthens its position as the world's leading automation company.

Financing is secured

The transaction will be fully financed through a bundling of external and internal sources. (Very roughly, I think an enterprise value around 10 million is realistic).

"The Piab Group's long history of innovation in vacuum technologies and its global presence will enable COVAL to continue to develop in order to provide a long-term future for the family-owned company and its workforce. By joining the Piab Group, COVAL joins an excellent global company and leading innovator in the vacuum technology market. Together we will further strengthen our leading position in the automation industry," says Michel Cecchin, CEO and company owner of COVAL.

"We are very excited to add the COVAL team to the Piab family. We see a great fit in the company culture based on our shared strong passion for the future of robotics and automation. We are confident that this strategic move will enable us to offer our customers state-of-the-art automation solutions while strengthening our competitive advantage in the market," said Peter Laurin, CEO Group Piab.

"COVAL will be a perfect strategic addition to our business. The industrial automation market is growing rapidly and we see significant growth opportunities from the addition of COVAL's competitive portfolio and highly skilled employees, whom I would like to welcome to the Piab Group," says Gustav Falconer, President of Vacuum Automation Division.

Are we networking? LinkedIn
-> Go to the Cobot group on LinkedIn (link). The author is also a consultant (robotics, tech & finance). Hardly anyone is likely to have a comparable market overview.