Italian stone machinery manufacturer GMM has taken a controlling share in Bavelloni SpA, creating a group with a turnover exceeding €100million.
The deal giving GMM 52% of Bavelloni’s shares was concluded on Monday (31 January).
GMM, with sales worldwide and represented in the UK by Roccia Machinery, is based in Gravellona Toce in Italy. It is a leading manufacturer of machinery for stone cutting, milling, and polishing.
Founded in 1993 by three engineers, GMM began by designing and manufacturing bridge saws for the stone industry. It has developed into a world leader in the production of traditional and numerically controlled sawing and milling cutters. These days it also makes edge polishers as a result of the acquisition of Cemar in 2009, and waterjet cutters as a result of the acquisition of the Australian Techni Waterjet in 2018.
In the past five years GMM’s turnover has grown from €36million to €70million, 85% of which is generated outside Italy.
For Bavelloni SpA, based in Lentate sul Seveso, also in Italy, joining with GMM represents an opportunity to continue a strategic development plan started in 2015, which has resulted in the company increasing turnover by 75%, expanding its sales network through three of its own subsidiaries abroad and integrating a tools business into its product range.
GMM and Bavelloni Spa will together employ 400 people and operate six production plants and eight direct subsidiaries. The two companies will integrate their respective technologies into an annual production of over 800 machines for three main business sectors: Stone with the GMM brand; Glass with the Bavelloni brand; Fabrication Materials under the Techni Waterjet brand.
For Bavelloni, the partnership with GMM opens a new opportunity to develop the stone side of its business in the machinery and tooling sectors. Bavelloni has concentrated on the glass industry and its machines are distributed in the UK by Glass Machinery Solutions. Nevertheless, the stone versions of its robust, fast CNC workcentres are favoured by some in the stone industry. Its NRG series are its stone sector flagships, available in three, four and five axes versions.
The two companies say their machinery is fully complementary without overlap, which will allow them to continue to develop their full product ranges, although the similarities between the machines will allow for rationalization of components and production processes.
The Bavelloni SpA Board of Directors – Federico Bassi, Roberto Califano and Sergio Valsecchi – retain 48% of Bavelloni shares and will continue to manage the company.
GMM was assisted by Lincoln International as advisor of the transaction, by the law firm Ughi e Nunziante for the contractual aspects, by KPMG for the accounting due diligence and by Russo De Rosa & Associati for the fiscal and legal aspects. Bavelloni shareholders were assisted by Studio Advant Nctm.