Founded in 1960 and listed on the Italian stock exchange, Gefran has three businesses: Motion Control, Automation Components and Sensors. The Motion Control operation, which WEG is acquiring, develops and produces variable-speed drives, DC converters, special servodrives and elevator controls. It has around 180 employees and factories in Italy, Germany, China and India. In 2021, the business generated revenues worth about €44.8m, out of Gefran’s total of €160m.
The deal will boost WEG’s manufacturing capacity in Europe and follows a recent announcement that it is building a new motors factory in Portugal at a cost of €23.5m.
“Our objective is to offer an increasingly broad portfolio of products and solutions, increase our presence in a market as important as the European market, now with local manufacturing, and thereby accelerate our growth process abroad within our motion drives strategy,” says Manfred Peter Johann, managing director of WEG Automation.
The two family-run businesses say that they share common values and visions, and consider the stable creation of value over time to be a fundamental objective.
“The sale of the drives business is part of Gefran’s broader strategic plan to focus resources on the company's historical core business of sensors and components for industrial automation,” explains Gefran CEO, Marcello Perini. “In these business areas, the group has a consolidated global leadership, generates excellent income results on a stable basis, and has primarily directed the investment plan of recent years.”
WEG’s acquisition of Gefran will give it additional manufacturing capacity in Europe
The deal is subject to certain conditions, including approval by European regulatory authorities.
Gefran: LinkedIn
