Elektrobit Group Oyj - JOT AUTOMATION GROUP PLC SIGNED A PRELIMINARY AGREEMENT TO PURCHASE SHARES OF FORMECA LTD, A MANUFACTURER OF AUTOMATIC PACKING EQUIPMENT
May 04, 1999
JOT AUTOMATION GROUP PLC SIGNED A PRELIMINARY AGREEMENT TO PURCHASE SHARES OF FORMECA LTD, A MANUFACTURER OF AUTOMATIC PACKING EQUIPMENT
JOT Automation Group Plc has signed a preliminary agreement to purchase shares of Formeca Ltd, a company in Lahti, Finland. Formeca Ltd's present majority owner is Pakenso Ltd, a member of the Stora Enso Group. Formeca Ltd's private owners will sell all their shares of the company to JOT Automation Group Plc.
According to the preliminary agreement, in the first phase JOT Automation Group Plc will purchase 49 % of Formeca Ltd's shares. The transaction will be completed by the end of May. In this phase 51 % of the shares will be owned by Pakenso Ltd. According to the preliminary agreement, JOT Automation Group Plc intends to expand its ownership in the future.
Formeca Ltd manufactures equipment that produces product packages. The company's net sales in 1998 came to about 13 million FIM, and it employed 22 people.
Last February at the Nepcon West'99 exhibition JOT Automation Group Plc introduced an automated system for packing final products of the electronics industry. Formeca Ltd's products shall be part of JOT Automation Group Plc's system for automated packing of final products. Formeca Ltd's products support JOT Automation Group's expansion of operation to become a supplier of automation for electronics industry product packing and stockroom logistics. Final product packing in the electronics industry has previously been done almost completely manually.
"This preliminary agreement guarantees the purchase of new know-how and capacity for JOT in the area of automatic product packing equipment. We will very quickly develop an application from Formeca Ltd's existing packing equipment that can be integrated into JOT's complete system. Now we can offer our customers an automation solution for the entire production process, including automatic final product packing with our own equipment, seamlessly integrated into JOT's complete system", says JOT Automation Group Plc's president, Jorma Terentjeff. "Our products and systems have been successful in the market. We expect the same with our packing system and Formeca Ltd's products."
JOT Automation Group specializes in manufacturing and marketing production automation for the electronics industry. The group has subsidiaries in eight countries. On March 31, 1999 the group employed 502 people and its net sales from 1 st January to 31 st March 1999 totalled 27,6 million of euro. The company's shares are listed in the Helsinki Exchanges.
Oulunsalo, May 04, 1999
JOT Automation Group Plc, Board of director
Jorma Terentjeff, President, CEO
