Acquisitions

In the business year 2015/16, the voestalpine Group made a total of three acquisitions. Two of them were undertaken by the Special Steel Division in order to increase customer-specific value creation. With the acquisition of the companies Advanced Tooling Tek (ATT) in Shanghai, China, and the Sermetal Group, which is headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, the division further expanded its market leadership as a provider of special steel products for toolmaking and mold construction. The new sales and service centers will provide not only local production of special steel, but also the processing required by customers (sawing, milling, heat treatment). The main customers of these two companies are the automotive and electronics industries. With ATT, which has around 100 employees and which generated revenue of EUR 16 million in 2015, the Special Steel Division has taken over its longstanding local sales partner, thus taking its next step toward expansion on the Chinese market. Sermetal, a market leader on the Iberian Peninsula in the plastic mold steel segment, achieved revenue of around EUR 27 million in 2015 with its staff of 60.

With the acquisition of the US company Wickeder Steel Company, headquartered in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, the Metal Forming Division has expanded its market presence in the USA in the segment of hardened special steel strip for high-quality applications (e.g., band saw blades for the food industry). The company specializes in the heat treatment and hardening of carbon steel for the production of saws, hand tools, and flap valves. The enterprise has a staff of 50 employees and generated revenue of around EUR 12 million in 2015.